INFORMATION WANTS TO BE FREE:

[T]hese same arguments were used when we were first allowed to see sold house price data. It would be nothing less than a "snoopers charter", argued some, with nosy curtain-twitchers checking out the silly price the neighbours paid for that dump next door.

Today, hardly anybody thinks it's intrusive that sold house prices are published all over the internet, except perhaps Tony Blair and family, when we learn they have hoovered up their zillionth buy-to-let property.

If we took the plunge and opened up HM Revenue & Customs to scrutiny, might we get over our ourselves and see the benefit from public disclosure?

In Norway, no one can disguise their earnings, with every tax return made available to anyone in the country to inspect. It's not just a matter of the prime minister grudgingly forced into disclosing. Workers can see what their colleagues are earning, and neighbours can snoop on how much the people next door are making - all legally, and all available online.

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