Things, it seems, are plenty bad enough without HM Revenue and Customs getting on the construction industry's case to demand yet more money.
But that's exactly what has happened to some contractors working on civils or alternative energy projects that have involved extracting aggregates. It seems that HMRC officials are now targeting those firms and expecting them to pay the Aggregates Levy - even where any aggregate was re-used in the project.
Yes, HMRC's stance on the Aggregates Levy is clear and unequivocal, but the levy has been in place for a considerable time without it being a big issue for contractors. Is HMRC only now beginning to realise what an endless cash cow it could be? Has the government's admission that it will break its own financial rules meant that any revenue-generating government department has been sent into overdrive?
If that is the case, it would seem that the industry's plea for more relaxed treatment of CIS fines (see page 1) will also fall on deaf ears.
Anyone with any common sense would realise that construction contractors aren't awash with cash. Margins are low enough without government insisting on collecting more and more revenue from the industry. It would be a pretty desperate government that drove one of its biggest industries to the wall in an effort to shore-up its bank balance. But perhaps that's a reflection of the times we are in...
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