Tax is theft

This is a guest post from @VendettaBeretta

Tax is theft.

Don't believe me? Read on....

The following is taken from an email sent to me by a poster on Twitter.

I first took an interest due to a tweet that read

"grrrrr now I will go for a cold shower, as the Inland Revenue have taken my bathtub (really)"

Now, you can probably see what caught my attention. The Inland Revenue wouldn't actually remove someone's bathtub, surely? Guess again. And her underwear. Not sure what the resale value is in worn pants these days, but I'm sure there's probably a market for it in the office of HMRC anyway.

Anyway, to the email.

"they suddenly gave me a tax bill of £125.000.00 - yes £125k and it was outrageous given that I mormally paid about £10-12k a year. my accountant told me to ignore it as it was wrong - so I did but I telephoned them to say so. they changed the bill from 125k down to 88k then 55k then 35k but all the while they had my bank accounts frozen and they had out liens on my property - i had 2 properties, they took one property and i went ballistic - then 18 months later they took my mnain business property - I owned both these buildings with no mortgage. I am now living in a flat with a mortgage but since they bankrupted me I have been on the dole and now the mortgage company are repossesing this flat - and they have kindly agreed to wait till after I have had 2 knee operations. but my time is running out I will be evicted soon - god help me - I have lived here for 10 years. the main reason why they took all my property is that they kept me bankrupt for over 3 years and (you might not know this but) every single week the IR keep you bankrupt they charge you (or me) £1000.00 administration costs - so I didnt have a leg to stand on. every time I filled in forms or went for an interview - they told me they would have to look into in it - it took them 6 months to get my bank statements (they would not asccept them off my accountant or me) so in that 6 months - I was billed for 26k in admin costs - thats the way trhey play and its DIRTY and very very unfair - i fought like hell but i had no credit cards and no cheque books and - after 3 years they had accunilated almost £200k in administration costs -thats when the bill was brought down to 33k but with the admin costs - they seized my property and contents - and left me with nothing - not even any clothes - its a bad story. I NEVER thought my country could do this to me."

The highlights are mine.

The point I'm raising is not just against the clearly incompetent accountant, who should have advised against ignoring HMRC demands, but of the conduct of HMRC throughout this affair.

How does a demand for £125 grand turn into £35 grand? On what formula is this based? Does this sound like a professional government agency, or gangsters demanding protection money? The taking of two properties? The admin charges of £1000 per week would make Wonga blush.

Tax is theft. You can keep your bullshit about fair shares and tax avoidance. You can claim it to be part of a social contract if you like that sort of statist newspeak. You try not paying the tax man, and he'll be riflling through your knicker drawer like your babysitters 15 year old boyfriend.

Here's a little addition to this story.

The lady in question employed 21 members of staff. All of whom lost their jobs. She is about to be evicted from her flat. She's also now unemployed. The irony in the state stealing from her, and making her reliant upon the welfare system hasn't been lost on me. This is the new way comrades. Turnips for all.