Apologise? Moi?

Dave Hartnett doesn’t think he needs to apologise for the HMRC fuck-up. It’s all the fault of the media apparently.

Dave Hartnett, Permanent Secretary at her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, claimed media stories of blunders and IT failures were wrong.

So that’s why they are not sending out all those demands for underpaid tax, then. Oh, they are? So, er, whose fault is that then?

It gets better. Not content with having massively screwed up and then arrogantly claiming that it was nothing to do with them because it was all the meeja, they pile on the arrogance and bullying just to rub it in.

And he warned those who owed £2,000 or more in back tax they would have just over three months to repay it in full.*

The assumption here is that people who owe more must be earning more and can therefore afford to pay it all off in one lump.

Speaking exclusively to Radio 4’s Money Box programme, Mr Hartnett said: “I’m not sure I see a need to apologise.”

No, you probably don’t and that tells us all we need to know about you and your incompetent, arrogant, kleptomaniac organisation.

Mind you, he does have a point:

Dave Hartnett, the country’s top tax official, has refused to apologise to 1.4 million people facing demands for extra money – adding that the situation was not “extraordinary”.

And that’s just it. It isn’t extraordinary.

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*If you are one of the unlucky ones, you can get back to them and tell them you cannot pay. They will then make arrangements for payment over a period of time. They will charge interest, but that’s the lesser evil. If it is for the tax year ending April 2009 and you are sure that it is their fault, then apply for them to write it off as they should have come for this money last year.