Prime Minister David Cameron and his deputy Nick Clegg have told a meeting of small and medium sized business leaders that the Government may announce legislation in the 2012 budget aimed at preventing higher rate tax avoidance.

Mr. Cameron was speaking at his P.M. Direct event in Maidenhead, where he said that HMRC had to collect taxes in a fair and business-friendly way, adding: 'One of the things that we are going to be looking at this year is whether there should be a general anti-avoidance power that HMRC can use, particularly with very wealthy individuals and with the bigger companies, to make sure they pay their fair share.'

However, the announcement is likely to do little to silence the Government’s critics, who claim that higher rate tax avoidance is costing the country billions of pounds a year, at a time when many in society are struggling to make ends meet.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg made his feelings clear about higher rate tax avoidance when he spoke to The Today Programme on Radio 4 the following day.

Mr. Clegg said: 'I think there are millions of people - and these are people who the Liberal Democrats are in politics for - who pay their taxes, who work hard, who aspire to do the right things for themselves and their families, who are quite rightly angered there is a wealthy elite of large businesses who can pay an army of tax accountants to get out of paying their fair share of tax."

Business tax accountancy expert Peter Lashmar said: "It is certainly admirable that the Government of the day wants to clamp down on people who it feels are not paying their fair share and using tactics of higher rate tax avoidance.

"As somebody who runs an accountancy firm, I have to operate within the law. Previously, higher rate tax avoidance was not unlawful like tax evasion, for example. So it will be very interesting to read the content of any bill that is put before Parliament."

To get advice on higher rate tax avoidance as the law stands currently, simply contact Lashmars: www.lashmars.co.uk