This week's opinion

My notice to file a tax return dropped through my letter box the other day. Given that I file electronically every year sending me a piece of paper is a waste of time and money but it is a legal requirement. If the move to a digital environment resulted in no more redundant pieces of paper I suspect that virtually everybody would want to move there straight away. But life is not that simple.

In this issue Robert Maas reports on the survey he invited readers to complete a few weeks ago. I will not steal Robert’s thunder by going through the results but I found them illuminating. There is a healthy level of support for the concept of digitalisation but concern about the timescale and particularly about compulsion.

I have said before that HMRC’s digital strategy is a key topic for readers and we intend to give...