Billy Bragg v HMRC

Whilst i agree with him, the penalty for not paying on time will stop most people responding


Alistair Darling MP
Chancellor of the Exchequer
11 Downing Street
London SW1A 2AA

14th January 2010

Dear Chancellor,
I write to you as a concerned shareholder in RBS, the Royal Bank of
Scotland. Together with every other UK tax-payer, we own 84% of
the company. I understand that this majority shareholding gives us
the power to veto any bonus above £25,000 that may be paid to
RBS employees.
I read recently that RBS are preparing to pay £1.5bn worth of
bonuses to their investment bankers next month. Around the same
time, I received a reminder to pay my taxes online by 31st January.
I could not help but be struck by the timing of these two events.
Could they be in some way linked? Are my taxes going straight into
the pockets of over-paid bankers?
As Chancellor of the Exchequer, you are our representative on the
RBS board. Before I am prepared to pay my taxes this year, I
demand that you exercise our shareholders veto and limit all
bonuses that RBS pays to employees to no more than £25,000.
Last week, you warned us to prepare for the toughest public
spending cuts for 20 years. The investment bankers at RBS are the
highest paid public servants in the country. Before handing out the
punishment to those already struggling to make ends meet in this
difficult economic climate, I ask that the first public spending cuts
that you make are borne by the high-risk speculators of RBS, who
have yet to be held accountable for the dire financial crisis into
which their irresponsible actions have plunged us.
As our elected representative, I fear that your reluctance to act
would be a profound failure of our democracy and a sad reflection of
who really runs this country.

Yours sincerely
BILLY BRAGG