At the beginning of the year the government stood accused of being the principal reason many businesses were entering insolvency proceedings. See Government is Most Hostile Creditor to Business

For all the talk about supporting business, there’s a lot of action going on that is having the opposite effect:

The Times: The taxman is forcing recession-hit businesses to the wall, critics said yesterday as Revenue & Customs was implicated in the collapse of the Jarvis engineering business and the Scottish airline Highland Airways.

HMRC, which the Chancellor said on Wednesday would extend the Time to Pay scheme to help businesses affected by the recession, also issued nearly a third of all winding-up petitions in England and Wales last year as it clamped down on late taxpayers such as Portsmouth Football Club.

Stephen Alambritis, spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “We have sensed a harsher approach towards businesses. This is at odds with what the Chancellor said in the Budget. ”

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Black hole, national debt. Needs filling.

A taxpayer bank bailout followed by no credit for small businesses with an aggressive tax man chaser – makes for a dirty cocktail and angry drinkers.