They say it is virtually impossible to be sacked in the Civil Service – but it is time for heads to roll at HMRC

Britain is being taxed like never before. The deep freeze on tax thresholds means millions more of us are paying income tax at 40p and 45p and a record number of pensioners are now being stung with bills on their retirement income.

Our accumulated wealth is being eaten away by frozen inheritance tax thresholds and relentless cuts to capital gains and dividends allowances. Even income generated from modest savings accounts is no longer safe.

In all, the country’s tax burden has risen to a level not seen for more than seven decades. It is a disaster because heavy taxes make working less worthwhile and sap aspiration out of the workforce, diminishing the country’s productivity. But perhaps the ultimate insult to the British people is just how dreadful the tax collection service has become in recent years.

In a move that beggared belief, HM Revenue and Customs has announced that it will shut its self -assessment phone lines from April to September every year. The latest figures show that nearly one million calls went unanswered in January ahead of the self - assessment deadline. Callers had to wait a record 25 minutes on average before the phone was answered. However, this does not reflect the reality that many taxpayers are now all too familiar with.

Anyone who has had the misfortune of having to telephone HMRC will tell you just how frustrating a process it is. I remember having to correct my tax code a few years ago and spending hours on hold being moved from pillar to post. It seemed that HMRC was no more than a shambolic collection of siloed units that were only capable of dealing with specific queries, yet unable to deal with broad but simple questions. Alongside the helpline closure, HMRC has said it will let some customer service staff work three- day weeks during the summer, before working extra hours over the winter.

Last year, this newspaper revealed that thousands of tax office staff were routinely failing to show up to the tax office at all. This is on top of an already generous flexible work policy, which

HMRC insists is not to blame for its severe decline in standards.

The litany of failures does not stop there. HMRC let billions of pounds of taxpayer money slip through its fingers to fraud during the pandemic. The Making Tax Digital scheme, announced in 2015, is running £1bn over budget. The clumsy clawback of unpaid taxes via the controversial “loan charge” has been linked to 10 suicides and hailed as the next “horizon scandal” by MPs.

I imagine those within HMRC are frustrated with the poor performance too, but it’s clear it is an organisation that is not working as it should. It is said that it is virtually impossible to get sacked in the Civil Service, but I’d say the bosses at HMRC are trying their very hardest. No private company would ever get away with such incompetence. It is time for heads to roll at HMRC and some radical change.

Britain’s tax system has grown into something so knotty and cumbersome that we are now all at the mercy of HMRC – but it is just not up to the job.

It’s time to tear it up and start again. We need a tax system that is simple and effective, and a tax body capable of serving us.

‘No private company would ever get away with such incompetence. Radical change is needed’