The confused taxman
The taxman is at it again, driving taxpayers to the brink of insanity.
Robert Bradfield used to claim some tax credits, but following an increase in income, ceased to be eligible. Being an honest fellow, he notified the taxman, and thought that to be the end of the matter.
Not quite. The taxman continued sending him cheques. He tried to return them, but they were sent back to him. At the same time, however, he was receiving letters from the clearly schizophrenic taxman, telling him that he was receiving tax credits to which he was not entitled. So harrassed was poor Mr Bradfield that he has even considered emigrating.
This just goes to confirm that there is only one thing that any self-respecting taxman should be doing, and that is collecting money. They should never be involved in paying out money. They were not raised that way. The only payment a citizen should receive from the taxman should be a tax refund. The taxman is not a social security worker, he does not know how to part with money. Every time he attempts it, something goes drastically wrong. This is why tax credits of almost £1.3bn per year are overpaid through fraud and error.
Someon should have a word with the Chancellor of the Exchequer. You cannot legislate a change in culture. No amount of legislation can turn those shylocks at Revenue and Customs into a bunch of social security workers. Time to stop this nonsense. The best way to target tax relief at lower income earners would be to take them out of income taxation altogether. All of these problems would be solved by a significant increase in the tax-free personal allowance to, say, £15,000.
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: The confused taxman.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.taxthefish.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/6
Leave a comment