Painless Experiences

I’ve just renewed by car’s tax disc. Now, whilst I dislike having to pay this tax as much as anyone else, as an experience of paying money to Her Majesty’s Government goes it’s a fairly painless one.

Quite why this should be I’m not sure but they do most of the hard work for you – their database is able to look up both VOSA’s MOT records and the Insurance industry’s record of covered vehicles. Simply typing in a 16 digit reference number and a 16 digit debit card number is all that’s required and that’s it – the paper disc arrives a few days later through the post. At least it does until October when it is scrapped making that daft ritual a thing of the past.

I’ve also had to fill in a tax return recently and that is anything but simple: page after page of obtuse and often confusing questions. HMRC don’t appear to know what their own departments are up to let alone any others – surely they know exactly what tax I have paid as my payslips have all the details already entered and my employers will have sent them any figures they need to know. To make matters worse, the whole thing is covered with thinly veiled threats as to what the consequences should be should the slightest detail be entered wrongly.

I think HMRC could learn a few lessons from the DVLC. Simply cross referencing details that are easily obtainable and treating the public with a modicum of polite respect would go a long way. And if the tax form really has to be that complex, isn’t it time we simplified the whole regime? Maybe tax shouldn’t be that taxing?