"People who miss next week's tax self-assessment deadline will not be fined because of a strike by tax-office staff. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) said it will not be issuing penalties to anyone who files their tax return on February 1 or 2. Equally, those who have tax to pay will not face any interest on payments made on February 1 or 2. HMRC's acting director general of personal tax Stephen Banyard said: "We've always been very clear that we want the returns - not the penalties. For that reason, we don't want anyone who can't get through for help and advice on January 31 to be disadvantaged in any way."Two minutes ago, on Classicfm, a repeat of the advertisement on behalf of HMRC and voiced by Moira Stewart, threatening a £100 fine - even if you owe nothing - for failure to file by 31st January!
One can but quote Victor Meldrew............
3 comments:
Except surely they are not fines, courts administer fines. These are fixed penalty charges are they not?
Don't you just love the way they obscure the truth (and our rights)by warping language.
Woodsy is right - our language has been warped and taken away from us. I think we should take it back. As for that awful advertisement by Moira Stewart and HMRC - it sounds rather intimidating to me. None of them know what they're doing. There used to be a phrase: "joined-up government"; well, we certainly don't have that.
The bottom line seems to be that this govt - and its predecessors - don't care about the people they were elected to represent. They care only for their image on the world stage and we peasants can go hang.
W42 & GV: You both are of course correct in what you say.
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