A Spot Of Legalised Robbery

I have said how I'm back in the political arena because the income tax department is breaking the law ... again ... and yet I haven't spoken about that yet. I'm sorry. It's just the way the hustings went. I had to raise particular issues in particular parishes and although they were about other departments are also breaking the law, they weren't specifically about the income tax department.

When I wanted to pick the worst thing the Income Tax Department were doing for my printed manifesto, it was toss-up between the one I finally picked and this obscene practice here.

They are abusing their ability to assess you whatever they like to over assess people for thousands of pounds. They then inform them that they are free to appeal but if the appeal process goes over the end of the year, they will be liable for a fine on non-payment of taxes they might not even owe. And even if the appeal eventually shows that they didn't owe it, they will still be liable for the fine.

This is all a lie. First it is obtaining money with menaces or mugging as it is called when it happens anywhere else but the Tax Department.

Second, it's against the Tax Law. The Tax Law clearly states that the Income Tax Department has no rights to any money until it has been properly assessed and any appeal process has been resolved. After every assessment, you have 30 days to appeal. If you do, the Tax Depatrment has not rights to any money in dispute. It has to resolve the dispute before it can pursue the money which is the exact opposite of what it is doing.

That means that the Department is obliged BY LAW to stop taking ITIS payments from you and return any monies it has already collected that are in appeal until such time as the appeal is resolved. Before then, it can't take a penny from you because no tax is due until thereis no longer a dispute. Nor can it fine you. It can only fine for non-payment of taxes 12 months after they became due and that only happens once the appeal process is resolved.

The writers of the law thought that your right of appeal was so important, they gave it to you twice. You have the right to appeal 30 days after the assessment. Then thanks to article 38, you have an additional right to appeal that starts on the 31st day and extends for 5 years.

Yet all of that is being violated by our present Tax Department - and by extension by the Treasury Department and by the Council of Ministers who are turning a blind eye to it all.

So I'd like to end by leaving you with two questions to think about:

1. How many people are paying more than their legal obligation because of lies and fear tactics from the Tax Department?
2. How have we come to this place where our government is happy that the Tax Deparment can lie and cheat and steal from the public?