Hector making friends

[Mich the Tester]

"He implied she had pocketed the
profits from more than 13,000 customers a year for 16 years and then failed to
declare them to the Revenue"

As opposed to HM government which has pocketed the profits from millions of working age citizens since Pitt the Younger introduced income tax in 1789 to pay for the Napoleonic wars, which are over now, and still managed to saddle every working citizen with 44,000 pounds of debt.

[barrydidit]

Wail story not valid due to omission of the value of the subject's house.

Immigrants, see. Even if they are not the sponging type (although, that's kind of implied with the 'grandmother of 11' jibe in the first line). Plenty in here for the average Wail reader to get their teeth into.

[Mich the Tester]

I like that analogy

I'd refer the tapeworm analogy. Squirming into every part of the body economick, parasiting off the host but never quite killing the host so as to ensure it's own survival and reproduction.

[barrydidit]

Martyn Arthur, the forensic accountant who represented the Newells, says:....


‘HMRC is like a whale which survives on tiny plankton. It allows the big fish to go free and goes after the small fry. If it threatens and terrifies enough of the little people into paying up, it can generate huge amounts of money.’

I like that analogy

[Mich the Tester]

Wail story not valid due to omission of the value of the subject's house.

[vetran]

'We were persecuted and made to fear we would lose everything': The tiny cafe the taxman said owed £500,000 | Mail Online

Grandmother of 11 Icilda Newell ran her tiny Caribbean cafe in North London for love. There was just enough room for a small counter, a cooking area and a few tables and chairs.

But she had a stream of regulars who came for the spicy patties (pasties), curried goat and saltfish fritters, and fondly nicknamed her ‘mum’.

Most would typically pay around £4, though many spent as little as 50p. For Mrs Newell, 70, it was never about the money - by opening her cafe, she was fulfilling a lifelong ambition.

That was until the day all small business owners dread - the taxman came calling and made a devastating accusation.

He implied she had pocketed the profits from more than 13,000 customers a year for 16 years and then failed to declare them to the Revenue. In total, HMRC said she owed more than £500,000 in unpaid taxes and fines.

In November, they were finally awarded a tribunal before a judge.On the first day, having shown no previous signs of yielding, HMRC suddenly dropped its demand for the first ten years of tax.

On the second day, the judge found in their favour. The relieved Newells burst into tears. In his ruling, Judge Roger Berner said HMRC was wrong to demand the extra tax. He described Mrs Newell as ‘transparently honest’ and her submissions as ‘compelling’.