HC Deb 23 October 2000 vol 355 c73W
Mr. Jenkins

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what powers of discretion the Paymaster General has over the payment of tax arrears.[133926]

Dawn Primarolo

Treasury Ministers do not intervene personally in the Revenue Departments' application of the tax law or their handling of particular cases. The Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise are independent from Treasury Ministers in administering the tax system and have specific statutory authority for care and management of the various taxes, under which they exercise discretion over the payment of tax arrears, subject to their fundamental responsibility for collecting the tax due.