Monday 3 October 2011

The Overmighty State

I have just received a letter from the taxman. It states that I should return my paper tax form by 31st October or face a £100 fine that will rise rapidly to £1,300. This is usual these days, not just that fines are routinely imposed, but that the threats that go with them are extreme. The anomaly here being that I haven't been sent a paper tax form to fill in. Which didn't surprise me, following a letter a while back saying they wouldn't be sending me them, routinely.

This one went with the one a couple of days ago threatening to remove items to sell, for non payment of tax, because they hadn't heard from me. Except of course, their haste to impose fines is so great that they miss when you do reply. I dispute the amount and have asked for time to pay. Apparently though, the HMRC don't have a hardship policy.

Richard North on his EU Referendum blog is pursuing illegal fees charged by councils and bailiffs, backed up by the usual threatening letters. Watchdog on BBC1 ran an article about fines from the DVLA because they had lost your SORN form and you hadn't checked they had got it.

The connection? Revenue raising from ordinary law-abiding citizens. That it is happening so broadly suggests that it is no coincidence, but a planned strategy on the part of all levels of government. You cannot move these days for the forms that must be completed by deadlines (HMRC etc, don't have such a level of service to you, naturally) with fines rapidly following.

It is clear that bonuses are involved in this corrupt and immoral system. The day will come when someone, or perhaps a lot of people will crack. Is that why strict sentences were handed down to looters? Because with such a weak police force, the authorities, know they are only a short distance from political rioting (and not by the usual marxist rabble)?

No comments:

Post a Comment