Loan charge scandal and the Big Brother that George Orwell could not have predicted - Jayne Dowle

WHEN George Orwell invented the concept of ‘Big Brother’ in his novel 1984, first published 70 years ago this summer, do you think that even in his wildest imaginings he would have expected something like the Loan Charge to be ruining the lives of ordinary, law-abiding people?
Victims of the loan charge scandal have spoken of their personal despair.Victims of the loan charge scandal have spoken of their personal despair.
Victims of the loan charge scandal have spoken of their personal despair.

He did warn us of the encroaching power of the state. He did tell us that one day mere humans would be subject to huge and unaccountable government departments which treated us as nothing more than numbers.

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He did say, if I recall, that we would end up crushed and powerless under the boot of a totalitarian regime, subject to constant surveillance and control.

Pressure is growing on HMRC to halt the loan charge scandal.Pressure is growing on HMRC to halt the loan charge scandal.
Pressure is growing on HMRC to halt the loan charge scandal.

Yet I don’t think that the visionary Orwell could have come up with something quite as insidious as the Loan Charge predicament. Perfectly respectable people, including doctors and business-owners, opted to organise their tax affairs in a scheme which was advised by their accountants as ‘HMRC compliant’.

Now the HMRC, the Treasury body responsible for collecting taxes, has turned around and said that this was never really the case. It has closed a loophole and is demanding thousands in back payments from confused and distressed individuals who were only trying to do the right thing in making sensible arrangements for payments of monies due. These are not multi-millionaires living on yachts or large corporations trying to duck out of their obligations; they are overwhelmingly people, like you and me, who work for a living and simply wanted to ensure that their tax bills were as cost-effective as possible.

Both Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt have promised action on the loan charge if they become Prime Minister.Both Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt have promised action on the loan charge if they become Prime Minister.
Both Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt have promised action on the loan charge if they become Prime Minister.
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However, these retrospective bills are so punitive that many taxpayers face financial ruin; a number have reportedly been told by the HMRC that they may have to sell their family homes and face bankruptcy. There are also reports that some poor souls have become so distressed that they have taken their own lives.

And this is in a country, the UK, where even our Royal Family remind us of the pressing need to take mental wellbeing seriously and where mental ill health is the single largest cause of disability. According to official figures, almost a quarter (22.8 per cent) of disabilities are quantified as due to mental health problems - more than cardiovascular disease (16.2 per cent) and cancer (15.9 per cent).

I wrote last year of how the ‘hostile environment’ propagated originally by former Prime Minister David Cameron to make life intolerable for immigrants, sweeping up the Windrush generation in its maw, was seeping into society in general.

As I said when I first came across the term, I didn’t realise that it applied only to those from overseas who hoped to live here. I thought it was a catch-all shorthand for how megalithic and unaccountable government departments and ‘computer-says-no’ financial services companies operate in relation to the rest of us.

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The HMRC is by no means alone in its obduracy. For instance, if you’ve ever had to deal with the DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) on anything as complex as applying for a licence with a medical condition, you’ll understand what I mean.

The Drivers Medical Group has the power to revoke a licence on its own jurisdiction, seemingly over-riding any evidence supplied by a person’s GP or the results of NHS tests. The only way to challenge further is through the courts; the staff who answer the phones are not at liberty to discuss cases in detail. So, who is discussing ‘cases in detail’ and taking decisions which revoke licences, curtail personal freedom and independence and lead to loss of employment – not to mention causing severe anxiety and stress? Are they related to those in the Loan Charge department at the HMRC?

It’s the same with accessing many benefits. Genuine cases of need are treated with contempt and disdain, again with no recourse. Ask any charity volunteer how the roll-out of Universal Credit, for example, has affected people and they will tell you that it has indeed created a ‘hostile environment’ in which pleas for help and understanding go unheeded.

All power then to The Yorkshire Post, which demands that the Treasury halt the draconian Loan Charge policy while a review is undertaken and calls on the new Prime Minister to put this step into place forthwith.

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And perhaps once this most-urgent matter has been addressed, Ministers should be tasked with conducting a root and branch review into the transparency and accountability of all large government departments and offshoots. They should also investigate how cavalier official decisions are ruining – and 
ending – lives, destroying families and crushing decent people under the boot of a Big Brother no-one could have predicted.