A LETTER TO DAVID CAMERON

I first posted what follows on 24 August 2010. Telling myself that the best ideas are often ahead of their time I have decided to drag this one forward in time in the hope that someone in the Tory Party might put it under Mr Cameron's nose. Had she not done a bunk it might have been the Unmenschionable Disappearing MP for Corby and North East Northants - but I don't think she was ever really into reading anything she hadn't written herself.

Tuesday, 24 August 2010  
A LETTER TO DAVID CAMERON


Dear David,
I am a little late in replying to your request for suggestions – sorry about that but inspiration doesn’t come to order (not to me anyway).

Here’s the thought:-

Link the Honours system to the tax system. Now, don’t go away yet. Stay with me!

The basic thought is that no-one should get an Honour of any kind if their tax history is not flawless. This means that when any Honour for any person is up for consideration Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) would be consulted as to their tax payment history. HMRC would report back under, say, three categories:

(a) Flawless – honest declarations of income and expenses. Not a stain on their escutcheon. Good Eggs!

(b) Questionable – has clever accountants who also represent people we have had to chase but nothing wrong has been proven - but we have our suspicions. Or uses spouse as a tax shelter. Or lives abroad to avoid paying. Or standard of living inexplicably high compared with declared income.

(c) Bad Person – we have found them to have under-declared income and overstated expenditure and have imposed penalties.

HMRC would not supply details in justification of their categorisation unless specifically requested by the Honours office. Details would always remain confidential as far as the public domain is concerned.

Only people with a Flawless rating would be eligible for an honour. I believe that this would make people start to believe in and respect the Honours system. Your Office would make it known that in the future only people with blemish-free tax records would be Honoured. It need say no more than this. The category system would be unpublicised. Your Office could add that if people who receive Honours are subsequently found to have falsified their tax declarations or have evaded paying tax in any disreputable way the Honour would be removed.

Apart from being a good morale booster for the general public it would make those who have Honours in mind think very carefully about their tax history.

I think this scheme would increase tax income!

A development of this idea would be to develop a sort of ‘mini’ Honours system that rewarded people who had played it straight with the tax man for the whole of their working lives. On retirement such people – the Flawless ones - would receive a printed citation, signed by you, thanking them for their contribution to society plus a small lapel badge or brooch. Again the assistance of HMRC would be necessary. I think that people would feel truly honoured by this simple act and would wear their small decoration with pride.

Keith Diggle


Anonymous Comment 18 November 2011 08:29

A brilliant idea, Keith, but with all the dubious rich friends that DC has, it is one that will not be adopted. Shame!