It was revealed this week that Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs have – again – managed to get millions of tax bills wrong. It’s hardly a surprise that even the professionals can’t administer our overly complicated, 17,000-page tax code.
Our Director John O’Connell discussed HMRC’s blunder on ITV News with Consumer Affairs Editor Chris Choi last night.
Of course, the context is crucially important. It has been proposed that HMRC receive additional powers to dip directly into people’s bank accounts when they suspect tax evasion. But how can anybody trust HMRC to do it fairly, when they bungle the system they’ve already got? Until HMRC can be trusted, there’s no way tax collectors should be given the power of judge, jury and executioner over individuals’ tax arrangements.