HMRC to close 130 regional tax offices - Times Online .

The Times notes:

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) announced that 130 regional tax offices are to close, potentially forcing tens of thousands of taxpayers to travel further for advice and submit their self-assessment returns.

The closures put up to 1,700 jobs at risk, according to the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, which also warned the public that tax advice would be "severely reduced", and tax collection "undermined".

At a time when the government needs every penny it can raise and every job it can keep this is likke kissing tax goodbye.

Local knowledge is lost. Local accountability is lost. Local community contact is lost. Tax becomes more remote than ever.

PCS are right: revenue collection will fall.

I do not know anyone outside HMRC management who can see the logic of this closure programme.