"That "surely" mightily if you know your way round the system, like an accountant, or perhaps a lawyer. But most people, including me, haven't the faintest idea of how tax allowances and exemptions work. I suspect that most people could avoid any amount of tax if they knew all the nooks and crannies and fiddles that the rich use."

Not really, Kevin. If you're paying in to an occupational pension scheme, or even a personal scheme, your employers or the brokers will have taken care of the tax-relief aspect, either by notifying HMRC of your entitlement to tax relief on your contributions, or by reducing the amount you actually pay in each pay-period by the tax relief amount, whilst the scheme providers credit your account with the full, un-reduced, contribution.

There's no need for Mr. Average-Contributor to know "all the nooks and crannies and fiddles" in respect of tax-relief on contributions to a pension scheme, that's what those accountants you mentioned are for. :-)