Re: HMRC in melt down
 

That was then, this is now. I couldn't care less about what the tax rates were like 2 decades ago and it should be noted that indirect taxation has increased substantially in the interim.

I especially couldn't care less given I wasn't paying income tax 20 years ago. I have every right to moan when the government takes more and more of the money I go to work for and sprays it up the wall either to buy votes, further their own political agendas or because they are scared of offending certain groups.

Of course this comes from the angle of someone who considers himself a grown up who quite likes the idea of looking after himself and his own rather than just handing all his money over to the government to look after him as they see fit like some child unable to take care of himself and who thinks that work and trying to excel should be rewarded rather than redistributed.

YMMV.

EDIT: Incidentally having reached a breaking point both with governmental greed and with HMRC I'm taking tax advice next month on how to reduce my own tax bill. That's what happens when you squeeze people too hard, at a certain point it becomes not only viable but attractive to spend the time and money to reduce the tax bill.

Re: HMRC in melt down
 

my point been even at a 10% rate these same people would still pay for someone to fiddle their income figures and avoid tax. For some people what money they have is never enough.

Re: HMRC in melt down
 

Not so much, there's a point when the risk and costs involved in such an enterprise are no longer worthwhile and simply paying the tax is the way forward.

Regardless if this is a problem it's a symptom of a broken tax code. The simpler said code is the less opportunity there is to avoid it.

Some people really do like to keep hold of their money rather than handing it over for redistribution. Strange that.