WHY is it always the little man that gets hit hardest?

Yesterday, the Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, bravely went into the lions’ den of the TUC and made some pertinent points about the need to cut the deficit that were not especially well received.

When asked if more should be done to go after the big businesses and criminal gangs who exploit loopholes to avoid paying about £120bn of tax, he replied: “I hear your points and they seem persuasive.”

Almost simultaneously, Dave Hartnett, the head of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), was appearing before the Treasury Select Committee.

Once again he apologised for not apologising for the mess-up in the PAYE system that has left 1.4 million people facing hefty demands for more Income Tax.

Being a taxman is as thankless a task as being a Darlington FC supporter.

Even so, Mr Hartnett should have realised that sending out demands over Christmas for an average £1,400 had to be handled apologetically if he were to keep the recession-struck British taxpayer onboard.

Yesterday, ministers seem to have forced him into another concession.

Those owing more than £2,000 will no longer have to pay interest if they cooperate with the taxman.

To most people, the beauty of PAYE is that it deducts what it needs to at source so there’s no need to worry about complicated tax forms. So for them then to have interest added to a debt that they were not aware of was rubbing salt into the wound.

HMRC is set to lose a couple of hundred million pounds because of the concessions it is giving to the little men on the receiving end of the PAYE mess-up.

It is a huge figure, but £120bn is much, much bigger.

What are the chances of HMRC now pursuing the big businesses and the criminal gangs with as much unapologetic vigour as it has pursued the little man on PAYE?