Tax

Tax is a funny thing. No-one likes it, but most accept that it is necessary. But under that comes a subtlety; if the rate of taxation is perceived, even subconsciously, to be too high then the moral obligation fades. People start to look for ways to evade their full quota, as it were.

Of course, those with routine access to paid advice on how to minimise the bill have always exercised that ability, and the greedy, like over-paid footballers also have a history of avoidance. We know that the actual tax take declines as the rates rise, but politicians still persist in ludicrously high percentages. So who is surprised at the recent glut of stories about tax avoidance?

But our government and its tax authorities are deeply immoral at present. We have the head of HMRC taking a great interest in private meetings to assist large companies avoid massive tax bills. Not tricks or 'avoidance' you understand, they are just let off their dues. And then others are hounded. Civil servants have been set, tracking back over the records of ordinary people, in an attempt to find under payments. The (illegal) fines and interest that is now routinely added, obscene in the extreme.

All this of course, before we hear of the bonuses and tax avoidance among civil servants. Any chance this country is badly led?