The tax man cometh - for some.

Somebody that won't put their hands in their pockets to buy a round are resented. In no time they become social pariahs.

There's a massive stigma on benefit cheats. They get named and shamed. 

But not tax cheats. Naming them,oh no, that would be a breach of confidently. Our friend double standards at work again, methinks.

Well, in the view of Danny Alexander we should not name these cheats. One rule for the poor and a very different set of rules for the tax dodgers.

So the Amazon, Google and Starbucks of this world can get away with not paying their fair share by using every kind of  device to wriggle out of the taxman's demands. But not ordinary Joe Public.

The rest have to pay one way or another to make up the shortfall. 

Danny Alexander made his comments just at the same time as the influential Commons public accounts committee(PAC) had torn into the cheats accusing them of being “immoral.” 

It calls on the government to draw up laws to close loopholes and name and shame companies that fail to pay their fair share.

The PAC said that the companies used complex company structures and secret ways of avoiding paying taxes on the profits that they made from the British consumer.

MPs said that the tax collectors were far to soft on them. Not a word that is used in their dealings with the ordinary voter. 

And certainly a very different approach used to chase those that are trying to cheat the social security system. In 2010-11 benefit thieves stole an estimated £1.2 billion from public funds. To catch them there’s a fraud task force. But compared with tax cheats what is collected from social security is small change indeed.

Even Alexander admits that if they could get under the skin of the multinational firms they could raise an extra £2bn by the end of this parliament and this on top of the extra £7bn the Treasury expected to raise as a result of additional resources put in place in 2010. 

The ripping off of all of us has seen the actual income from Corporation tax going down. This at a time that  we’re all suppose to be “in it together.” 

The less tax that comes in the more cuts there will be as the Chancellor follows his austerity programme. 

So when you buy that book from Amazons or drink your coffee in Starbucks you are probably favouring companies that indirectly are causing cuts to your local school or hospital.

So the message is think before you buy. Back your local bookshop or cafe.