HMG screws up everything

You would think tax codes were the easiest thing in the world to work out. You get a tax free allowance and everything else is taxed at exorbitant %. Of course they can’t even get the basics right and many are finding they are being screwed around by an unaccountable behemoth at their expense. Tightening the grip and making sure that they squeeze as much as they can from everyone means that they err on the side of caution, their caution.

Now considering how much we spend on IT systems in government you would think they would get the basics right. They send you a tax form addressed to you at your address and in the 22nd century you would think you would have to complete your name address, NI number, DoB and a million and one other field on the form that you have completed many times. I still get notices from old insurers when my insurance is due with quotes made out to me while multimillion pound computer upgrades don’t have a clue what my DoB is.

Of course it will never change. The government thinks we should fill in these forms and anything else it demands we do without complaint. If we don’t we get the lowest tax code you can think of or you get an astronomical tax bill which you have to fill in other forms to get sorted. All calling their offices and paying for the privilege.

Now when you look at the DWP systems, they are just as bad, the best bit is the number of forms you need to complete to get what you have been paying for decades and then they screw it up. No comeback, no apology but the much vaunted safety net is lying flat on the floor. Again you have to spend money on getting it fixed, money you can’t get back.

While Joseph Stack who flew his plane into the IRS building in Austin Texas obviously was a bit further down the path of pissed off than most of us. I can’t see it any better over here and people like him will only get more effective in their frustration and once someone starts others follow. Pity it will be the poor DWP and HMRC staff who get it and not the people that actually cause it, those lying thieving politicians, but such is life.