TAX inspectors are to be given new powers allowing them to tap taxpayers’ telephones and plant bugs inside their homes and offices.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) says its inspectors need such covert surveillance to tackle the growing threat from organised and white-collar crime.

However, lawyers and accountants argue that the move could breach human rights and have condemned ministers for “creeping authoritarianism”.

Harry Travers, a solicitor who specialises in defending clients targeted by the Inland Revenue, said the new powers were a possible breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. The treaty says that interfering with private and family life is only permissible if it is “necessary” for the prevention of disorder or crime.

“A number of Customs and Excise prosecutions have spectacularly collapsed in recent years due to the abuse by officers of their powers, not because their powers were inadequate,” said Travers. “This is just another example of creeping authoritarianism on the part of this government.”

A spokesman for HMRC said giving tax inspectors the power to tap phones and plant bugs was a rational move after the merger of Customs and the Inland Revenue in 2005.

The union of the two organisations followed a series of bungled investigations in which Customs and Excise officers were accused in court of lying and corruption.

The spokesman said the former Customs and Excise agency had retained its powers to conduct so-called “intrusive surveillance” after the merger and it made sense to extend them to the Inland Revenue part of the new organisation.

“Some of the perpetrators can be caught using existing powers. But if criminals are to be caught and prosecuted, access is needed occasionally and under appropriate safeguards to more intrusive techniques. These powers would only apply to the most serious criminal offences.”

He cited the example of organised crime gangs seeking to defraud the tax credit system, while any warrants for phone taps would have to be signed by a minister or a senior government official.

The move will be seen as further evidence of a more aggressive approach towards tax evaders. Last year, it emerged that tax inspectors would be given powers to make arrests and take fingerprints without police officers being present.

Mark Fairhurst, head of forensics at accountants PKF, said: “HMRC claims it will use the new powers proportionately, but our experience suggests its officers often take an unnecessarily heavy-handed approach with some taxpayers who are eventually proven innocent.”

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