Can it get any worse?

ALLISON PLAGER reviews the Public Accounts Committee's report on HMRC's handling of tax credits.

AS IF THE slating given to HMRC and the Government by the Adjudicator the Parliamentary Ombudsman and the Citizens Advice Bureau in respect of the tax credit debacle were not enough the House of Commons' Public Accounts Committee has also handed down a report which damns the way that tax credits have been introduced and handled. In the summary of its findings the PAC report says that the Government had intended the tax credit system to be 'simple for people to understand and to administer'. It goes to say that 'in practice many people have found the scheme difficult to understand' which is something of an understatement. Numerous articles in Taxation have illustrated the complexities and anomalies of the system. The report says that the problems caused by tax credits have...