Saturday, June 17

We deserve better

"The genius of our ruling class is that it has kept a majority of the people from ever questioning the inequity of a system where most people drudge along, paying heavy taxes for which they get nothing in return" Gore Vidal was talking, of course, about post-war America, but his observation is increasingly true in contemporary Britain.
.
Millions of UK taxpayers are the victims of a racket perpetrated by a wastefull government. As Gordon Brown presses his boot ever harder on the windpipe of industrious people, squeezing more and more from individuals, small businesses and corporatechampions, the Chancellor's Cabinet colleagues squander fortunes.
.
It's a woeful situation, which prompts the question: can Brown's tax-raisingingenuity continue to match strides with the incompetence of his administration?
.
The answer, I'm afraid, is Yes. Research reveals that Brown has introduced no fewer than 80 new taxes since 1997.
.
In a less decent, more indisciplined society than Britain one could imagine widespread dissatisfaction turning quickly to civil outrage: a mass movementagainst abuse of trust. But not here.
.
In Britain, the burden of government by nincompoops and scoundrels is borne withremarkable stoicism. We simply get on with it, enabling ministers to get awaywith it.
.
The latest example of money down the drain is so perverse that one begins to suspect a conspiracy. A BBC investigation revealed that thousands of immigrants had received tax credits to which they were not entitled, in some cases payments worth £10,000.
.
The cost to the taxpayer runs to several millions. Here is a list of the blunders:
.
Blunder No 1.
Thousands of illegal immigrants were wrongly given National Insurance numbers.That ought not to have mattered, because Department of Work and Pensions (DWP)guidelines state that National Insurance numbers alone should never be used toprovide access to benefits.
.
Blunder No 2.
Dim-wit officials decided that many immigrants who were not entitled to tax credits did not have to prove eligibility. All they needed to make a claim was an NI number (even one incorrectly issued).
.
Blunder No 3
Revenue staff were told not to investigate cases of immigrants who had failed acrucial UK residency test.
.
For those whose sense of humour is still intact, the DWP insists that all fraudulent claims will be pursued.
.
If the department's retrieval rate is similar to the Home Office's record oftracking down foreign prisoners, there should be just enough recovered for a bag of chips.
.
The route of failure, delineated by political correctness, ran from the Treasury via the DWP to the Home Office and back again. Junior ministers and civilservants were so anxious not to derail the Chancellor's flagship tax-creditscheme that nobody blew the whistle.
.
PJ O'Rourke got it right: "Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys."
.
Brown's dysfunctional system of handouts is yet another New Labour car-crash inwhich the hapless taxpayer has ended up badly injured.
.
Far worse, however, is the scale of waste on the National Health Service's new IT system, which is already 30 months behind schedule and forecast to cost £20bnover the next 10 years, £14bn more than the Government's initial budget.
.
With IT consultants charging government on average £1,400 per day, the bills aremind-boggling. The Department for Education and Skills alone is reported to bespending £20m to £30m annually on advisers.
.
No wonder even Labour MPs are calling for an investigation. With such gaping holes in the vessel of state funds, Brown's tax troopers arebecoming increasingly aggressive towards business. The recently formed HMRevenue & Customs knows that it's much easier to tighten the vice on those who already pay than try to identify new sources of income. As a result, Britain risks losing its hard-won competitive advantage over international rivals.
.
In the final year of John Major's government, business coughed up £80bn in corporation tax, National Insurance and other taxes.
.
In 2006, thetotal is expected to be nearer £140bn.
.
For although Britain still enjoys an edge when it comes to language, locationand labour flexibility, the price of these benefits is becoming prohibitive.
.
It's not that most business leaders object to a redistribution of wealth. Their complaints, by and large, aren't about the less well off receiving a paybackfrom an affluent society. What drives them potty is the way that precious resources are sacrificed on the altar of ministerial vanity.
.
The present Labour Government is spending like a shopaholic on speed but everything it touchesfalls apart. Value for money exists only as an abstract concept.
.
More means less. For instance, additional billions have been tipped intohealthcare but hospitals are closing and nurses are being sacked.
.
Educational standards in Britain are now scandalous (one in six British adults lacks the literacy skills expected of an 11-year-old), despite a 40pc increase inexpenditure since 1997.The immigration budget is £2bn (1997: £200m), yet the de facto abandonment ofborder controls has created a democratic deficit for millions of Britons whowould almost certainly have voted against it, but were never asked.
.
All of the above should be an open goal for Her Majesty's Opposition. The response from David Cameron's Conservatives, however, has been depressingly lame. Faced with a Government spending £520bn a year, shadow chancellor George Osborne cannot identify a single tax cut, because his first priority is"economic stability". Since when were they mutually exclusive?
.
Come on Britain - it is time to protest, we have the worst government and worst opposition and the most compliant pressure groups in modern times; we deserve better.

No comments: