The news that the HMRC has totally ballsed up millions of people’s tax should come as no surprise. Briefly, 4.3 million people have overpaid their tax and are due a refund, and 1.4 million people have not paid enough.
Whilst it’s nice to be owed a refund, spare a thought for the 1.4 million who are being asked, nay, demanded to repay an average of £1,400 or so. It’s not really up to them to decide whether to repay it or not, as HMRC will be taking it directly from their salary. This is, of course, only affecting the middle classes who actually work for a living instead of sponging off the state.
There was some talk about HMRC taking control of tax collection directly, i.e. bypassing the employer, but this total cock-up clearly demonstrates their incompetence and reason why they shouldn’t be even left to run a whelk stall.
Add to that the news that 1 in 5 tax records could be incorrect, and the HMRC look even more “not fit for purpose” (a rare link to The Independent there 
)
The Telegraph View on the matter gets right to the heart of the question: “The crisis raises a wider point about the degradation of institutions of which this country was once justifiably proud”. Or, in plainer terms, when did we all go to pot? What happened to pride in a job well done? Or even just a job done? The gross incompetence of the HMRC lays bare the UK’s lacksadaisical approach to work, which is shocking.
The coalition government has taken the wrong stance by blaming the previous Labour government, which is a complete cop-out. The money should not be reclaimed from those who owe, as it was HMRC at fault. The new computer system will no doubt be blamed, but as some chap on Sky News said, people operate computers. Perhaps that’s where the problem lies: people rely too much on computers these days to do their thinking for them, and don’t bother to check what they’re actually doing.
Needless to say, the overbearing, big-brother style bullying tactics of the HMRC (“pay up or else”) will make a lot of people nervous, but there is some good news: As Anna Raccoon details in her take on this, the information in this Daily Mail article shows that it might be possible to tell the taxman where to go, so have a read.
It really is hard to be surprised any more about how truly awful the public sector is these days, but this slow-building story has finally hit the front pages and people’s doormats, requesting monies when we’re still in a recession and probably heading for another one. It is just wrong for the HMRC to be demanding money at a time like this when it was their cock-up. The HMRC really need to have the auditors sent in, the head should be sacked, the tax system vastly simplified (no more tax credits, simple bands, nice and easy) and the hundreds (thousands?) of incompetents (not a spelling mistake) be placed in jobs where their skills are more apt, like staring out of a window.
