Paying for information on suspected tax dodgers is nothing new. The tax authorities have been handing bungs to informers since the 19th century.

Usually, the sums are small - just a few hundred pounds - and often they are not even necessary. The disgruntled employee or deserted spouse is sometimes only too happy to dish the dirt on an enemy for nothing. Revenge is priceless.

The estimated £100,000 payment to the ex-employee of a Liechtenstein bank by Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is of a different magnitude and type to the norm. It is much bigger and, crucially, it is for information stolen from a bank, rather than for data honestly obtained or a tip-off freely given.

HMRC is confident that it will recover £100 million in additional taxation as a result of the deal. A 1,000-fold return is good value for taxpayers by any measure, although the suspected tax cheats may prove more slippery than the authorities imagine.

The fact that the information was stolen is, however, harder to justify. The former bank employee who provided the information is the subject of an international arrest warrant over a separate alleged real estate fraud and is hardly the most deserving of a handout from HMRC.

One private banker said yesterday that the use of criminally gained information was despicable and set a dangerous precedent. By using such questionable methods, the tax authorities were no better than the criminals they were trying to catch.

For any government department to legitimise theft of personal data is fraught with difficulty. One man's whistleblower is another's snoop or thief. In the midst of a serious concern about the security of personal information and danger of identity theft, HMRC is going down a difficult road.

Then there is the question of whether information gleaned in this way is admissible in court. This may not matter. The authorities are more likely to use the information to lever more tax out of the culprits rather than to prosecute them.

Without question, HMRC is getting either more robust or more cavalier, depending on your point of view, in the methods that it uses to catch tax cheats.

This should surprise no one. Eighteen months ago HMRC won a precedent-setting court case obliging British banks to hand over details of the offshore accounts of UK-resident customers.

More recently, 150 foreign banks with branches in the UK agreed to provide information on overseas accounts belonging to Brits.

Two years ago, HMRC balked at paying for stolen information. It was only after the German Government revealed that it had no such qualms that Britain decided to play by the same, less finicky rules.

The message that HMRC wants put about is clear: there are fewer places to hide undeclared income.

Most ordinary taxpayers - who see places such as Liechtenstein, Monaco and Andorra as aiding and abetting tax dodgers - will cheer. Politically, this will play well. The 100 wealthy individuals supposedly named on the disk bought by HMRC may have a lot of money, but they only have 100 votes.

And, just like the recent row over the treatment of non-doms - UK residents given special treatment and not taxed on their overseas incomes - the affair will reinforce the growing conviction of ordinary Britons that there is a cadre of super-rich not paying their fair share.

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive