Taxing GIG workers

Uber is apparently going to collect tax from its Mexican drivers.  The UK is also struggling to work out how to collect tax from GIG workers.

Self-employment numbers are rising and the proportion of UK tax revenues collected via PAYE are falling. The UK’s Office for Tax Simplification has recommended the introduction of a new PAYE-lite system to help manage the tax affairs of online platform workers, who it believes need more support to manage their own tax affairs.

HMRC believes that its ‘Making Tax Digital’ programme – where each taxpayer has a digital tax account to manage their tax affairs – will transform the relationship between HMRC and individual taxpayers.  Should a modern tax regime consist simply of an efficient method for online platforms to provide information to HMRC and/or its workers, so that this information can be easily incorporated into the worker’s digital tax account?

And, as employment trends change, why should this model not also apply to employees? Is it time for employers to cease to be required to act as unpaid income tax collectors?