Richard Brooks (born 18 August 1965) is a British investigative journalist and former tax inspector. He writes principally for ''

Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised ...

'', is the author of books on accountancy and

tax avoidance Tax avoidance is the legal usage of the tax regime in a single territory to one's own advantage to reduce the amount of tax that is payable. A tax shelter is one type of tax avoidance, and tax havens are jurisdictions that facilitate reduced taxe ...

, and was a 16-year senior corporate tax inspector for

HMRC His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (commonly HM Revenue and Customs, or HMRC, and formerly Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) is a Departments of the United Kingdom Government, department of the UK government responsible for the tax collectio ...

. He is the joint winner of two

Paul Foot Award The Paul Foot Award is an annual award run by ''Private Eye'', for investigative or campaigning journalism, in memory of journalist Paul Foot, who died in 2004. The award was originally set up in 2005 by ''The Guardian'' and ''Private Eye'', fo ...

s, an annual award for investigative or campaigning journalism.

Career

Brooks worked as a

HM Revenue and Customs His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (commonly HM Revenue and Customs, or HMRC, and formerly Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) is a department of the UK government responsible for the collection of taxes, the payment of some forms of stat ...

tax inspector for 16 years up until 2005 specialising in international and

corporate taxation A corporate tax, also called corporation tax or company tax or corporate income tax, is a type of direct tax levied on the income or capital of corporations and other similar legal entities. The tax is usually imposed at the national level, but i ...

. Since 2005, he has been a regular contributor to ''

''. In 2008 Brooks was joint-winner of the

for his investigation into the privatisation of the

CDC Group British International Investment plc, (formerly CDC Group plc, Commonwealth Development Corporation, and Colonial Development Corporation) is the development finance institution of the UK government. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Off ...

. He is the author of ''The Great Tax Robbery: How Britain Became a Tax Haven for Fat Cats and Big Business'' (2013) and the co-author (with David Craig) of ''Plundering the Public Sector: How New Labour are letting consultants run off with £70 billion of our money'' (2006). With Andrew Bousfield, he was joint-winner again of the

in 2014 for their investigations in ''Private Eye'' on bribery in''Shady Arabia and the Desert Fix''. In 2018 Brooks published a new book, ''Bean Counters: The Triumph of Accountants and how they broke Capitalism''. With

Nick Wallis Nick Wallis is a British broadcaster and journalist, known for his extensive coverage of the British Post Office scandal. Post Office scandal Wallis has reported on the British Post Office scandal since 2011, having become aware of it while ...

, he co-authored ''Private Eye''s extensive report on the

British Post Office scandal The British Post Office scandal, also called the Horizon IT scandal, involved the Post Office pursuing thousands of innocent subpostmasters for apparent financial shortfalls caused by faults in Horizon, an accounting software system developed b ...

, "Justice Lost In The Post". In January 2022, Brooks alongside

Ian Hislop Ian David Hislop (born 13 July 1960) is a British journalist, satirist, and television personality. He is the editor of the satirical magazine '' Private Eye'', a position he has held since 1986. He has appeared on many radio and television pr ...

and Solomon Hughes presented evidence on MPs' conduct to the House of Commons' Standards Committee

Bibliography

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References

External links

Richard Brooks' articles in ''The Guardian''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Richard British investigative journalists Private Eye contributors Living people Civil servants in HM Revenue and Customs Writers on taxation The Guardian journalists British business writers 1965 births Tax inspectors

Career

Bibliography

See also

References

External links