Cyprus is not the only victim
THE Cypriot expatriates and British squaddies are not the only people to be officially robbed. It happens to savers every day. The busybodies at HMRC dive directly into our savings (unless they are held in an ISA) and by withholding taxes immediately diminish the returns.
Even more invidious has been the deliberate theft of savings as the price of keeping the financial system afloat. Inflation, currently running at 2.8pc according to the latest consumer price data, swamps the best savings buys that stand at between 2.05pc and 2.5pc. That means savers are already experiencing negative interest rates.
Indeed, the accumulated inflation since the start of the financial crisis five years ago means that British savers have seen the capital value of their deposits eroded by at least 12.5pc on a straight arithmetical basis.
Savers with bank deposits are not alone.
With each Budget and Autumn statement the Chancellor finds it easy to chip away at the incentives to save through private pensions by lowering the tax free limits. The result is that pensioners are hit by a triple tax whammy of capping their potential returns, a crushing diminution of annuities (that still remain compulsory) and then the final blow of HMRC taking their pound of flesh once people start taking their retirement income that is subject to income tax.
It seems to be accepted, and I have been as guilty of this as everyone else, that euroland, by dipping into bank accounts and charging a levy on savings, is engaged in a uniquely horrible intrusion.
But through the national insurance system and PAYE that is precisely what HMRC does every month. When people try to query the settlement they are kept hanging on the phones for lengthy periods of time, if they are able to get through at all.
And heaven help the ordinary tax-
What freeze?
payer if HMRC decides to audit and impose penalties, while its former leaders lunched at the table of Vodafone and other big businesses.
Every aspect of our l i ves is affected by stealth taxes from our energy bills, to air travel and car insurance.
Almost all of these duties are taken from our pockets at source without any form of consultation.
That i s why the Chancellor George Osborne needs to start thinking lower, simpler and less taxation before the cry of ‘I’m as mad as hell’ rings out. AFTER last year’s Shareholder Spring, which saw a succession of overpaid chief executives booted from office or chastised by investors, one might have thought remuneration committees might take a hair shirt approach this year. If the performance of Carl Symon, who heads the pay group at BAE Systems, is anything to go by, then nothing has been learned.
Symon, a former chair of collapsed music group HMV, seems to think that Ian King – who pursued a failed £31bn merger with EADS against the national interest – deserves a £1.2m bonus for his effort. Overall his package hit £3.3m including basic pay, pensions contributions and benefits.
Symon and his board colleagues believe that freezing his basic pay in the current financial year at £963,000 is punishment enough.
Equally galling to shareholders, including Invesco Perpetual that opposed the foolish EADS tie-up, ought to be the award of a 7.7pc pay rise to £725,000, to part-time chairman Dick Olver who is due to step down next year.
The manner in which the pay of non-executive chairmen has been allowed to drift ever upwards is bad enough.
But it is generally thought that the chairman is there to supervise the behaviour of the chief executive and to guard against over-exuberant actions.
Instead Olver behaved like the super-salesman for a rotten deal. It is a pity he did not apply his verbal talents to making sure that BAE won some of the big defence contracts in Asia rather than losing out to French and American rivals.
Leading jockey
IN the supermarket sweepstakes J Sainsbury, ridden by Justin King, is cantering along smoothly.
No horsemeat scandals for him – just the small matter of pork in its Taste the Difference beef and chianti tortellini.
But that minor error was not enough to halt a stately 3.6pc rise in same-store sales in treacherous conditions with household incomes squeezed, snow on the roads and confidence shot through as a result of negativism about the economy.
The secret of King’s success looks to be trust in a revamped own brand, inroads in clothing and fast growth in online and convenience sales.
His attention to detail was rewarded with a lift in the share price.
The Emir of Qatar, the company’s biggest investor with a 26pc stake, must be well pleased. Why bother with M&S?