Budget gives government power to raid your bank account without court order or appeals process

[Ripmax]

[QUOTE]Did you spot this in the Budget? George Osborne has – it seems – adopted one of payday lender Wonga’s most controversial policies.

One of the things that makes Wonga such a good payday lender is their policy of draining out their clients' bank accounts in the middle of the night on the day of payment. It’s certainly effective if you’re a loan shark – it saves you the expense of sending the heavies round to collect payment (not referring to Wonga here of course!).

At the back of the Budget book, there’s this chilling paragraph: “The Government will modernise and strengthen HMRC’s debt collection powers to recover financial assets from the bank accounts of debtors who owe over £1,000 of tax.”

Make no mistake, this is a huge change – a "power grab" according to Politics.co.uk. At the moment, if HMRC want to seize your property or cash, they have to take you to court, win and then get a court order. Now, they apparently can do it at the flick of a switch. Crucially, there’s no safeguard built into this system – there’s no evidence of appeal process.

To repeat, if HMRC decide you owe them cash, they just take it, and there’s no mechanism to get it back or challenge their decision. You just wake up one morning, check your bank account, and find the money's gone.[/QUOTE]

[url]http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/willardfoxton2/100012871/did-you-spot-this-budget-gives-hmrc-power-to-raid-your-bank-account-like-wonga/[/url]

HMRC are definitely are 100% competent and never make huge [url=http://www.theguardian.com/money/2010/sep/07/hmrc-tax-error-affects-millions/]mistakes.[/url]

[Awesomecaek]

That ain't nice.

I am sick of times when a fraudster gets away with money they stole from the government or anybody but this sounds like something that shouldn't be allowed. How can one even seek legal defense if they just took all your money? If it happens you might be simply screwed.

[JustExtreme]

What the fuck?

Surely there should have to be court proceedings first...

[BuffaloBill]

Is this even legal?

[JustExtreme]

Like the article says - this ain't about raiding Starbucks - it's about going after small businesses and individuals who aren't versed in putting their accounts offshore

Big business wins again.