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Who’d Run the Revenue?

2nd Mar 2016
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The money might be reasonable but the person who takes over from Dame Lin Homer at the head of HMRC will need very thick skin.

On the plus side, there must be every possibility that if you are the lucky applicant in a few years’ time a seat will be waiting in the House of Lords together with a title, salary and company of a certain class.

However, in order to get there it will be necessary to drive a runaway bus that is heading into the sea - remember the final scene in The Italian Job. Sadly, your co-stars will not be Michael Caine and Noël Coward but an ever diminishing number of very unhappy and disenchanted civil servants who can’t even remember the meaning of the word motivation.

You will at least be able to get your kicks from regular visits over the road to account to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee for inevitable IT and PR disasters. There, a group of aggressive MPs will tell you how badly you have been doing your job and they may even be right. To make matters worse, your ignominy will be televised.

What nobody can be sure about at the moment is the proportion of the Department’s problems that lie within the organisation and how much is merely the consequence of underfunding by Government that has now extended for generations and looks set to continue.

One thing is sure. George Osborne will cut your budget every year while demanding ever-increasing amounts of revenue. Regrettably, he won’t even see the funny side of this long running gag.

So what can Dame Lin’s successor the expected to achieve?

First, they will have the chance to implement technological change that is almost certain to have more teething problems than any sugar-addicted infant.

Secondly, they must expect to face the difficulty of encouraging and retaining the last few good members of staff as the remainder flee for the professions or early retirement.

Thirdly, the new supremo will enjoy negative press comments on a regular basis either as a result of Google-style deals or the failure to answer the phones or minimise the tax gap, except via the use of what many regard as highly dubious statistics.

Fourthly, if you take the job, it comes with an obligation to fight multinationals with very expensive advisers who know that HMRC will be loath to take them through the courts if it can possibly avoid the expense.

All in all, this is an absolutely poisonous chalice but if by any chance the new incumbent can increase the tax take at the same time as fighting off Mr Osborne and Co. it could be rather fun. Any takers?

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By JazzySasha
02nd Mar 2016 17:57

Position filled
See the press release from last week
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-executive-chair-and-chief-executi...

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