This blog starts just as HMRC have lost some computer discs. Don’t worry – it’s only 25 million people who are affected. Nice timing – it’s a good example of one of the things I’ll be banging on about. More on this another time.
As an accountant, I’ve spent 30 years dealing with the Revenue and it used to be more straightforward. They were civil servants who saw their job as collecting the right amount of tax. Not too little, not too much, but the right amount. The whole tax collection process is governed by a set of laws, so you know pretty much what the right amount of tax is.
Now? Well, now too often they don’t want the right amount, they want the maximum amount. I feel sometimes like I’m having to beat them back with a rolled-up newspaper. Poor Joe Soap taxpayer with no one representing him just pays up and doesn’t know any better. That’s not really how the Civil Service should be.
This blog is about themes. This is one of them.
