Letter from the Inland Revenue 
  Just got this letter from the Inland Revenue 
 Dear Sir,
   Dear Sir,
 
 I am writing to you to express our thanks for your more than prompt reply to
 our latest communication, and also to answer some of the points you raise. I
 will address them, as ever, in order. Firstly, I must take issue with your
 description of our last as a "begging letter". It might perhaps more
 properly be referred to as a "tax demand". This is how we, at the Inland
 Revenue have always, for reasons of accuracy; traditionally referred to such
 documents.
 
 Secondly, your frustration at our adding to the "endless stream of crapulent
 whining and panhandling vomited daily through the letterbox on to the
 doormat" has been noted. However, whilst I have naturally not seen the other
 letters to which you refer I would cautiously suggest that their being from
 "pauper councils, Lombardy pirate banking houses and ****ant gas-mongerers"
 might indicate that your decision to "file them next to the toilet in case
 of emergencies" is at best a little ill-advised. In common with my own
 organisation, it is unlikely that the senders of these letters do see you as
 a "lackwit bumpkin² or, come to that, a "sodding charity". More likely they
 see you as a citizen of Great Britain, with a responsibility to contribute
 to the upkeep of the nation as a whole.
 
 Which brings me to my next point. Whilst there may be some spirit of truth
 in your assertion that the taxes you pay "go to shore up the
 canker-blighted, toppling folly that is the Public Services", a moment's
 rudimentary calculation ought to disabuse you of the notion that the
 government in any way expects you to "stump up for the whole damned party"
 yourself. The estimates you provide for the Chancellor's disbursement of the
 funds levied by taxation, whilst colourful, are, in fairness, a little off
 the mark. Less than you seem to imagine is spent on "junkets for Bunterish
 lickspittles" and "dancing *****s" whilst far more than you have accounted
 for is allocated to, for example, "that box-ticking façade of a university
 system."
 
 A couple of technical points arising from direct queries:
 
 1. The reason we don't simply write "Muggins" on the envelope has to do with
 the vagaries of the postal system;
 
 2. You can rest assured that "sucking the very marrows of those with nothing
 else to give" has never been considered as a practice because even if the
 Personal Allowance didn't render it irrelevant, the sheer medical logistics
 involved would make it financially unviable.
 
 I trust this has helped. In the meantime, whilst I would not in any way wish
 to influence your decision one way or the other, I ought to point out that
 even if you did choose to "give the whole foul jamboree up and go and live
 in India" you would still owe us the money.
 
 Please forward it by Friday.
 
 Yours Sincerely,
 H J Lee
 Customer Relations