How will a government blacklist work?

The government hopes to use purchasing power to change business culture on tax.

One of the announcements buried in the Autumn Statement was that the Cabinet Office and HMRC will ‘consult on the use of the procurement process to deter tax avoidance and evasion’. To put it in more common parlance Danny Alexander said at the Liberal Democrats’ Autumn conference that ‘If you want to work for us you should play by our rules. Taxpayers’ money should not be funding tax dodgers’.

It is not difficult to see why the government has taken this tack. It may not be able to defeat every form of tax avoidance through counteraction so it hopes to use its purchasing power to change business culture around tax – in the same way it uses that power...