Who The HMRC Do They Think They Are?

HMRC could take direct control of pay cheques after tax errors

HM Revenue and Customs could take direct control of every worker’s monthly pay cheque under plans to overhaul the error-prone income tax system.

I seriously, seriously hope this is a bad blunder by an inexperienced reporter. But somehow I think not.

The reform would mean the end of traditional monthly payslips, because employers would no longer be able to tell workers how much tax they had paid each month.
Under the current PAYE system, employers calculate a worker’s tax liability and deduct the appropriate share before paying the rest to the employee.

Employees then give HMRC an annual summary of each worker’s pay and tax, which the tax authorities then assess to see if more or less tax is owed.
Under the centralised deductions system, employers would pay workers’ monthly salary into a central calculator run by HMRC.

There, income tax deductions would be made automatically and the net salary then passed on to the worker by HMRC.
Instead of a payslip detailing pay and deductions, workers would only find out how much income tax they had paid by asking HMRC.

Are we seriously supposed to trust them with our wages? Are we seriously supposed to believe that this system will not go tits up and leave people out of pocket and bearing the brunt of huge bank charges for missed direct debits.
Are we seriously to believe that HRMC are entitled to take such a liberty with OUR money?

In the two years from 2008-10, almost six million people paid the wrong amount of income tax, leaving some facing demands for repayment and others qualifying for rebates.

HMRC also has more than 18 million open cases relating to wrongly paid tax predating 2008.

Without details of the tax we have paid, how are we even to know if there has been a mistake, never mind fight it. There will no longer be 18 million open cases because people will not know if a mistake has been made or not. In order to find out how much tax we have paid, we will have to ask HMRC. We will have to request details of the tax we have paid.

HMRC and the government have no accountability whatsoever for our money. They do not keep records of what is spent. They do no prepare year end returns, telling the people where their money has gone. Their spending is accountable to no one, yet ours has to be painstakingly recorded and passed to the government so they can decide if they have stolen enough of our cash. If we refuse, we are threatened with fines, court sanctions and eventually violence in order to make us comply.

If the HMRC believes you owe more tax than you have paid they do a "lifestyle audit". They then pluck a figure out of the air, of what they think you owe and send you a bill. If you disagree it is up to you to prove your innocence. If you believe you have paid to much tax it can take months or years to get a rebate, if at all. You have no recourse to the law, you have no rights.

The government long ago crossed the bounds of acceptability in looting and spending our money, but this is the worst example yet of their utter contempt for us.

If we the people, allow this to happen, we may as well just hand over our wage to the government and ask for a little house keeping at the end of each month. Or even better, quit work and go on the dole.