I used to be very unsympathetic to people who failed to get their tax returns in on time. The tax year ends in April and you have until the end of the following January to file it so there’s plenty of time. Well I had a pretty busy year in 2011 and the tax return kept getting pushed down the list of things to do. So here I am at the start of January scrabbling around to get the information together.

If I don’t get my return in on time I will automatically be fined £100 by HM Revenue and Customs. Leave it another six months and the fine would be at least £1,300. These fines are automatic - if you’re late, you pay them.

Or rather, you pay them if you’re an individual. If you are a big company it appears that HMRC takes a rather more lenient view. A recent report by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee shows that our largest companies owe £25bn in unpaid taxes – equivalent to £1,000 for every family in the UK. But they don’t get fined. They wine and dine the boss of the HMRC and come to secret sweetheart deals.

A whistleblower recently blew the gaffe on a secret deal with Goldman Sachs which could save the bank as much as £20million. This is not something HMRC normally offers to shopkeepers or small businesses!

It is yet another sign that we’re not “all in it together”. The Government is targeting spending cuts and tax increases on ordinary families who can’t afford them while letting off those can.

The cuts we’re seeing would not have to be so deep if these companies paid what they owe. And what makes it worse is that some of those being let off are the very banks that caused the problems in the first place.