Trying to pay my taxes via the HMRC website the other week, my bank thought it had sniffed a rat. “Could this be a scam?” it popped up and asked. I went ahead and made the payment anyway, but the honest answer was yes, ‘scam’ is not an unreasonable way of putting it. Every year, my tax bill seems to sneak upwards while I seem to get a little less for my money.

Every year, my tax bill seems to sneak upwards while I seem to get a little less for my money

Every year, my tax bill seems to sneak upwards while I seem to get a little less for my money

I don’t think that is quite what the Prime Minister meant, however, when he wrote a piece in the Guardian today promising to end “the rip-offs that British people hate”. He had more in mind hard-to-cancel subscriptions and shop ‘bargains’ which turn out to be not such a good deal after all. “Every single unexpected payment, rip off or hidden catch chips away at hope,” he wrote. “That might sound dramatic – but it’s true. Every single one is another message that this country is built to catch........

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