Letters to the editor | 10 March 2007

Nothing to fear?

Sir: I rather enjoyed reading Tessa Mayes’s anxious tirade about the imminent arrival of Big Brother (‘Big Brother is coming’, 3 March), although perhaps not for reasons of which she would approve. During my 88 years of life so far (in at least 44 of which income tax at between 40 and 83 per cent has been levied on part of my earnings), I have never met any self-employed person who has not admitted to ‘fiddling’ his or her tax return as a matter of routine. If, as Tessa Mayes now claims, HMRC is being much more aggressive and — dare we say it? — astute in pursuit of those who manage their own tax affairs, I stand ready to lead the applause.

Exotic dancers apart, surely all of us enjoying the freedoms of a democratic society recognise that one of the prime duties of an elected government is to protect the majority of its citizens (who pay income tax in advance, refrain from dropping litter or supplying alcohol to children, support their local councils’ attempts to rationalise refuse collection and accept ‘arbitrary surveillance’ by authorised officials) against those who refuse to accept any of these constraints.