Telegraph Whines At Taxman Doing His Job

Taxation. Along with death, those things in life which are the most certain. And taxation enables the Government to pay for those little essentials - like the benefits system, the NHS, the law enforcement agencies, the emergency services, keeping our transportation systems moving, education, and so much more. We all pay taxes. The better off pay proportionately more. And boy, do some of them whinge about it.

So when the authorities clamp down on any kind of tax underpayment, the rich and greedy can be relied upon to squeal like so many pigs arriving at the local pork pie factory. And as those are the kinds of people who have the ear of our free and fearless press, we can expect any and every article on the subject to be framed in a way that paints the taxmen as the baddies, just for doing the job for which they are paid.

Thus today’s bleating headline in the increasingly downmarket and desperate Telegraph: “Tax ‘revenge’ on tycoons who bankrolled Brexit … HMRC under attack after demanding up to £2m on entrepreneurs’ EU campaign funding”. Collecting tax has become “revenge” in the retelling. For doing its job, HMRC is “under attack”. Those receiving the bills are lauded as “entrepreneurs”, and not tax dodgers, oh no.

The blubbering and moaning is unrelenting: “DONORS who bankrolled the Brexit campaign have accused the taxman of a ‘political attack’ after they were hit with six- or even seven-figure tax demands on their contributions … Among those targeted were … Peter Cruddas, the City mogul; and Arron Banks, who made millions from his insurance businesses”. I’ve considered just how much Banks is really worth previously.

Did diddums get a nasty tax bill, then?

Why the mardy strop, then? “In what has been dubbed the ‘revenge of the Establishment’ [by whom? And they ARE the Establishment] the tax authorities have seized upon a relatively obscure area of inheritance tax laws which forces people to pay tax upfront on large ‘gifts’”. That’s a straight-A F*** Right Off. Is tax due? Then tax is due. Full stop, no conditional statement, no get-out clause, end of story.

And then comes the admission “At least one Remain donor has also been sent a tax demand”. So it’s not “revenge”, it’s not singling out Brexit backers, and it’s not a “political attack”. But we do know that “banks including Goldman Sachs and J P Morgan, which bankrolled the remain campaign, have not been embroiled in the crackdown because they cannot be made liable for inheritance tax”. This is significantly dishonest.

None of the top ten donors to the referendum campaign - on either side - were Goldman Sachs or J P Morgan, although the Tel has claimed otherwise. So why the pretence? Why keep whining about “Goldman Sachs”? Why claim the tax authorities are carrying out a revenge attack when they’re only doing their job? This is the lamest non-story to be foisted on the Tel’s dwindling readership in a long time. And not worth the “exclusive” claim.

Arron Banks has been hit with a tax demand? He’ll just have to pay up, or get whoever he’s fronting for to pay up. No hearts bleed for this repellant creep and his equally unpleasant pals. The overmonied and uncaring whining about having to stump up their fair share of the tax burden is not a story. Even though it is enough to make you puke.