Fifty-thousand tax workers are being balloted on industrial action — including strike action — in a dispute over job cuts.

The Revenue and Customs (HMRC) workers are members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS), which announced the ballot yesterday.

PCS is waging a national campaign against cuts which have cost tens of thousands of public-service jobs. The union says HMRC alone has axed 30,000 jobs in the last decade and that thousands more are under threat. Tax inspectors who tackle tax avoidance and tax evasion have been among those hit.

“Despite significant opposition, HMRC is pressing ahead with the closure of all its 281 walk-in enquiry centres,” said PCS. “This will cut face-to-face tax advice for millions of people, particularly older people and migrant workers, and put 1,300 jobs at risk.”

The government also plans to privatise HMRC’s debt-management division and other parts of the service.

The ballot closes on Friday, May 16. If the tax staff vote for action, PCS is planning to launch a series of one-day and shorter strikes, and other forms of industrial action.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “A decade of cuts has left HMRC unable to cope with its crucial job of collecting the taxes that fund the other public services we all rely on.

“These cuts must be stopped and the government must invest in our society and a serious clampdown on the tax dodgers who deprive our public finances of tens of billions of pounds a year.”