Nigel Farage has said the divide between those who work in the private sector or are self employed and those who work for the state is ‘enormous’ as he hit out at the service being offered by HMRC to UK taxpayers.
Farage described HMRC as “the worst of the lot” and warned that members of the public were “scared” of the organisation which he claimed can “bully” and “threaten” people.
Speaking on GB News Nigel Farage said: “I think we all accept that we live and work in this country, especially if we do well, we’ve got to pay tax, but we expect tax rates to be fair.
“We also expect the tax system to be understandable. It is not. Our tax code gets more and more complex every year.
“Many of us are so scared of HMRC the fact they can put daily fines on you, they can backdate them, they can bully you, threaten you in all sorts of ways, that we hand the whole thing over to our accountants. That effectively adds a few pence onto our overall tax rate.
“But there are many people who simply can’t afford to pay accountants and they’re trying themselves to get to the bottom of tax demands that are being made, of how they should put their returns in and levels. The limits are constantly changing and they tried to ring HMRC.
“I remember when George Osborne was Chancellor, so we’re going back a bit, that the tax code in this country had hit 15,000 pages. And we were told it was the most complex, most difficult tax system in the entire world. Where is it now? It’s 23,000 pages.
“It’s very, very complicated. Most people are honest, I really mean that. Most people are honest. They want to do the right thing. They being asked to file tax returns, etc. and so they do the obvious thing, which is ring HMRC and ask for advice. Now. I know that ringing the gas company or the electricity company, all of it. We’re living in digital Britain, you often don’t understand what you’re being asked. It is a nightmare. I think HMRC are the worst of the lot now.
“Even if you get to the website, you know, unless you’re trained in tax law, it’s frankly incomprehensible.
“And the worst part of all this is that so many people who work are getting up earlier in the morning, getting home later at night, working more days of the week than their parents and grandparents ever had to.
“The working population, particularly those who are self-employed, or running small businesses, or even working for big corporations are absolutely working their socks off.
“They’re paying the highest tax burden the country has seen since 1948. They’ve been treated by HMRC, in many cases, as if they’re all potential criminals. There’s no one for them to talk to.
“It might take 800 years to get through on the phone. And yet those that administer this system are earning good money with big pensions, potential bonuses for doing, in many cases, just two days a week in the office.
“People talk about divides in the country. The divide between those that work in the private sector or work for themselves, and the public sector is now simply enormous.”
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HMRC treats taxpayers like they’re potential criminals, says Nigel Farage