Why is the state bullying minors?

My son recently received a £100 penalty notice for not submitting an income tax return as he worked for a three-week period during the summer holidays of 2012. I was unaware that a child was required to submit a return given that my son is in full-time education, has not worked before or since and is below the tax threshold. Naively, I assumed this was an error and visited the department the next day to resolve what I thought to be a simple oversight on their part.

An embarrassed member of staff informed me that she was unable to speak to me as my son had to complete a form giving his father permission to act on his behalf. I was told that the department wrote to him in 2013 informing him of this requirement, although we have no record of such a letter. Failure to complete an income-tax return within the required deadline entitled the department to impose a £100 fine and I could appeal if I so wished.

I accept that ignorance of the law is no defence and, indeed, if my son was of legal age, I could reluctantly accept this response.

Outraged, I contacted a parish deputy to seek their advice and ask if they were aware of this practice. The deputy was very helpful and supportive and has agreed to take this matter further with the department.

But should it have come to this? What has happened to good old common sense? Surely this is a draconian abuse of power and amounts to state bullying of a minor. Obviously the income tax department consider my son to have a separate 'legal status' and therefore is responsible for his own fine – the fact that he was a 16-year-old minor in 2012 seems to be an irrelevance.

The current problems being experienced by the income tax department are one of public record and arguably of their own making. However, this should not be an excuse for them to bully vulnerable members of our community.

I look forward to our appeal hearing and may invite the said deputy to see how juvenile non-taxpayers are treated in our island. This situation, on top of other well-publicised issues within the States Income Tax Office, begs the question of how long Guernsey taxpayers are prepared to put up with such a shoddy, poorly managed service that we, the taxpayers, are actually paying for.

Let's hope our political elite will recognise the need to ask more probing questions of how this department is being run and whether the law is being legitimately administered. I think all fair-minded Guernsey taxpayers already know the answer to that.

Name and address withheld.