What's in a name? - or a frame

I have a healthy relationship with parapets; I put my head above them. I believe the most effective way to avoid criticism is to say nothing, do nothing, be nothing and I do not want that. As you read on you may think I am writing about a tedious technical tax problem and inequalities in the insolvency legislation. I am not; it is all about the democratic process and how we fund public services. It is also about how the way we name something, or frame it, can affect how we think about something.

I first became aware of the issue (the tax one, not the name or frame one) when someone (a business adviser) said "There is legislation going through parliament at the moment which will give HMRC extra powers that will mean banks will be less willing to lend to businesses. Please sign the petition to stop it."

Before I say what I think about this it is useful to set out a few definitions. Banks = commercial organisation that pay their bosses big bonuses and were bailed out by the taxpayer a little while ago. HMRC the government department that collects the money that we (you, me and everyone in the UK over voting age with a couple of exceptions- most convicted criminals and members of the House of Lords) decide is needed to fund public services e.g. the currently much-loved NHS. My article - I get to name and frame.

The legislation referred to going through Parliament (currently the committee stage) is the Finance Bill and in particular section 95. It puts HMRC at the front of the queue of creditors, after those with a fixed charge, in an insolvency . You might be wondering why HMRC are in the queue at all because they don't lend businesses money. They are there representing us (you and me and all the other taxpayers) because the insolvent business had borrowed (without our permission) money deducted from our salaries (PAYE, student loan repayments, National Insurance) or from payments we made to the company (VAT)Money which was intended to fund public services. The business improperly borrowed this money for working capital in a business which with hindsight (or perhaps better foresight) was heading for failure.

Personally I would like whatever is left of taxpayers money to be recovered for the benefit of public services rather than going to the bankers who perhaps should have been more circumspect about lending to the business in the first place.

HMRC barge those greedy bankers out of the way and get to the front of that queue to get whatever is left of my money. I will not be signing the petition.