‘Symbolic’ knickers

Press, 16 September 1976, Page 16

‘Symbolic’ knickers

NZPA London A taxman who called to collect his dues from a business--man, Mr Keith Allen, was presented with a pair of women’s knickers, the Press Association reported. A cheque for £426 was written on the front of them, and the tax collector took them away — in a briefcase, of course.

Mr Allen, aged 38, told the taxman as he presented the undies: “They are symbolic. This is the reply of the National Federation of the SelfEmployed to over-govern-ment. To use a simple phrase — knickers.” The collector made no reply. Mr Allen, a clothing manufacturer of Newark, Nottinghamshire, is the federation’s national honorary secretary. “The cheque is valid only if the tax people write a receipt on the back of the pants. That means I shall be getting them back through the bank,” he said. He said the knickers cheque was part of the federation’s protest over Government policy towards the selfemployed. He told the tax people that they had to send a representative to collect the money after first making an appointment to see him.

“We were only obeying the strict letter of the law. A taxman’s full title is collector of taxes and that means he should collect them.”

Mr Allen said that his bank manager at the Yorkshire Bank would pass the pants through his bank as he would a normal cheque.