Tories Advocate ‘Banning Tax Enforcement’

Published on 2 June 2006 in ,

There’s a wonderful story in the Telegraph today about how Council Tax inspectors turned up at the Big Brother set to asses whether the inmates should be paying Council Tax.

This is quite funny in itself, but the piece de resistance of the article sits in the middle in a rather pointless quote from Caroline Spelman, Shadow Secretary for State for Local Government. Here’s her quote from the Torygraph.

Caroline Spelman, the shadow secretary of state for local government, said yesterday: “This is yet another example of meddling in people’s homes and property by a busybody Labour Government.”

The Telegraph: Council tax inspectors watching Big Brother House

I seriously hope this is not a misquote because if it’s genuine, it’s the work of an insane genius and shows a whole new side of the Conservative party’s attempt to win votes.

Lets go back and look at the context – Council Tax inspectors go to the Big Brother house to asses whether the people living there should be paying a particular tax. A tax instigated by a Conservative government and enshrined in law. A tax we all have to pay.

But the Inspectors need to evaluate whether the tax is liable.

What’s Ms Spelman’s response? To say its meddling in people’s homes and property! Genius!

Genius! So Ms Spelman, what’s the option here? How else are the authorities supposed to check up on whether people should be paying Council Tax? Sit in the pub and guess?

Either they assess it and you call them busybodies, or they don’t and there’s possible tax evasion.

Well Ms Spelman clearly likes the tax evasion route – after all, if assessing the Big Brother House’s liability for Council Tax is wrong, what else is there?

Clearly this has huge repercussions. If I build a new house and refuse to tell anyone what it’s worth or what its layout is, can I hide behind Ms Spelman when the inspectors come round?

And which other taxes does Ms Spelman have issues with the tax inspectors looking at? Surely the Inland Revenue must be pretty high up – after all, they get to look at my income. Surely that’s a prime example of busybody government meddling in my life?

Of course this could be a whole new vote winner for the Tories – vote for us and we’ll stop all taxes being legally enforced! No more need to pay taxes! The whole of my salary to myself! Legal VAT free purchases! No more import duties! The possibilities are endless! Hurrah! If that’s not a reason to vote for the Blues, I really don’t know what is, and I wholeheartedly look forward to seeing this new policy in their next election manifesto! David Cameron, your future is assured!