4 responses

1. 

   geneberman

   February 2, 2007

   I can’t believe you’ve just now fallen off the turnip truck.
   “They” can do many things that you and I can’t. And they frequently do things that those with an even ordinary sense of morality (or honor) wouldn’t be able to stomach.
   But, at least you can derive a certain modicum of satisfaction from the fact that you’re not one of “them”; that, itself, should be worth something.

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2. 

   Cleanthes

   February 2, 2007

   Geneberman,
   I’m sure it is indeed worth something, just not £846k.
   🙂

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3. 

   Mark Wadsworth

   February 2, 2007

   This is almost certainly a Mansworth v Jelley type claim. For decades the tax profession had applied a commonsense interpretation to the legislation on employee share schemes. A cunning taxpayer won a case on the basis that a literal reading gives a far lower tax bill. The law was then revised to say what we had always believed it said.
   This all happened back in 2000 or 2001 I think. There was a widely publicised cut off date for making back claims (I submitted a couple myself) and if this chap comes along five years later, he has my every sympathy but really he should be suing his accountant.

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4. 

   geneberman

   February 2, 2007

   Mark:
   Except for what are called “figures of speech,” “words mean stuff” (–Rush Limbaugh). I can appreciate, that in the case of an error in drafting of the law, a “commonsense” interpretation might be able to better express both intent and particulars but, in the absence of a mistake, cannot fathom how “commonsense” might depart from “literal.” An example, perhaps?
   It was a mistake that, in drafting a law regarding agricultural imports, a series of dutiable items included “fruit, trees” in the series. By mistake, the comma between the two was transformed to a hyphen, with the result that both fruit and trees were exempted (except for fruit-trees). The Treasury lost some revenue until the error was caught and amended (over which I’d not lose any sleep, being–like all of us here, huh,–a free-market man). I read of this more than 60 years ago–probably in something by Mark Twain.
   And I’m certain it was Twain that told the story of Moses Prendergast, an illiterate
   ex-slave living in Missouri. He bid on a contract to carry the mail on a rural route requiring not only a mail carrier but a mule (and Moses had one of those).
   He bid $400 a year on the 5-year (with option for another 5 and for pro-rated increase of the route distance of 50%).
   Somehow, the $400 was read as $4 and Moses was intimidated by threats of prison into accepting and performing (at $400, his bid would have also been successful). After he started, the government exercised both options, with the result that he served the 50%-enlarged route for 10 years at $6 per year. If I recall, his descendants were able to wrest some satisfaction from Congress through a “special bill.”

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