Those looking for light hearted fun look away. I am finishing off my tax returns and therefore I am in full Victor Meldrew mode!! You have been warned…grumpy guts is posting today:
Why is tax so complicated? Having waded through paperwork to access the correct information for our family tax credit form… I hit an unseen wall. For some inexplicable reason the tax office, despite being told twice, have not updated Hayley’s employment status which changed in 2007. So it was off the phone, contact Hayley, queue again for an advisor…only to be told they needed the exact hours she works. Why? Dear God why? I have the figures damn you!! Why? So off the phone, contact Hayley and now, equipped with the necessary information AGAIN, I am sitting idle back in a horribly long queue waiting for my 4th advisor of the day! Grrr!!!
Why does it have to be so demanding? Why can’t we all just pay a set figure according to salary and be done with it? And how on earth does that minority not as bright as myself cope with all of this? It is bewildering at times!
But today’s irritating experience is as nothing compared to last week when filling out my own tax return. We encourage the use of our online facility, state the HM Revenue and Customs, and so I began to do just that….only to discover, some time into the procedure (and thus committed) that the free online service has a sordid little secret. Only some forms are provided, other essential elements are left out. In order to access these, such as the ‘ministers of religion’ form, one must use specialist software from a list of registered providers….a snip at £25 minimum. Yes it would seem rip off Britain has learnt a new trick, from now on we are to pay for the privilege of filing our own tax returns. How charming!
Time for my Daily Mail headline……’what has happened to this nation?’ Far from being a community built on Christian ideals, in which we look out for one another, we have become a nation of greed in which individuals are increasingly used as cash cows for large corporations. When Labour came to power we were promised ‘things could only get better’ am I alone in suggesting they have got a good deal worse? And this is not a party political point as I am not confident other parties would have been much better. Never in British history have we been taxed so heavily, with stealth taxes at every turn, and yet we see so little for it. And of course, due to the criminal greed of banks and the current leadership of this nation, things are about to get a whole lot worse. Taxes will rise further and services cut like never before.
Meanwhile we can be confident that energy firms will continue to announce multi billion profits whilst continually hiking prices, which affect the elderly and vulnerable in a terrible way. Train tickets will remain amongst the most expensive in the developed world. Supermarkets will continue to grow in power and strength with groceries rising in price. And, what is more, the nation will continue to creek and groan under the crippling red tape and political correctness that turns common sense and trust into things of the past.
Why should I be forced to change car insurer on a regular basis order to avoid paying over the top premiums? Whatever happened to rewarding customer loyalty? Why should the M25 be slowed simply to force us to pay a 50% surcharge to use the Dartford Crossing? When we were promised it would be free once paid for?
Something is wrong at the heart of our nation. And as I fill out my tax return…(honestly, can you believe it MPs?)… I yearn for a more simple and decent way of life. A Christian way of life. The Western Empire is collapsing and it is profoundly sad living within a soulless, greedy society which seems to lack vision, integrity and purpose. There told you I was grumpy!!
Fr Ed,
Have you tried that firm who sometimes advertisies tax services for clergy in New Directions?
£25 for a Tax Return form? I don’t belieeeeve it!
Last year was the first working for myself and the transition was quite complex. So I wrote a long letter explaining stuff in as much detail as I could muster. Someone I know in HMRC said “why did you bother, they won’t bother reading it”. Sure enough a week later a note comes back saying can I resubmit everything – they’d received it but subsequently lost it.
Your prognosis for public services in the next few years is spot on. As is your assessment of the wider ills in society. Is it too much to hope that in these troubled times people might reflect on the alternatives to self interest; and if so, how the church can promote a better, Christian alternative?
I paid for tax services last year and concluded that, as I still have to collate all the figures, I might as well do it myself. It saves £100 (now 75 thanks to rip off) so seemed a good idea. In honesty it has only meant inputting the figures I collected in the past!
Disappointed to see that your devil of a taxman is wearing a University of London tie.
LOL! I had no idea what tie it was as I cribbed the image from google!
I think you’re being very moderate and reasonable, Father. My wife was threatened with an Inland Revenue Tribunal a few years ago for failing to pay assessed tax of £0.00. Having gotten them off the case by writing a cheque, as I remember, for £0.00, For the next 13 years we had a form which came to the same conclusion, and they woldn’t stop issuing it. Much lead in your pencil! St Anthony, pray for us!
I hope that this little bit of information will put you in a better state of mind. I have battled with the tax office for the last ten years to try and solve a problem with my tax. They collect tax twice on a certain sum of income.
I now at Level 2 on the complaints procedure, the next is the Ombudsman.
They have told me how much I will need to be paid back but so far I have not seen the colour of any money. Their systems are in disarray.
Best of luck with your dealings
About ten years ago on leaving the C.of E, I was asked by revenue to pay over £3000 in unpaid tax. As up until then my tax was deducted PAYE I knew this could not possibly be the case, and fought them via telephone and letter over 18 months. In the end we came to an amicable compromise. They sent me a credit for £162.00. Result!