By Stephen Spurdon
Every household in Britain has £4,000 taken each year in tax and thrown away on useless projects and other waste by the Government. That is the accusation in the book, 'The Bumper Book of Government Waste 2008'. We have been told year after year that the Government is 'investing' in public services such as schools and hospitals. Indeed they have and state expenditure as a proportion of national income has risen over the past decade from 37.4% to 44.9%. But the authors Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance and historian Lee Rotherham have totted up the annual waste bill and found it comes to a staggering £101bn. This is an amazingly thorough piece of work, going in to every branch of government.
Here are some examples of the type of waste identified:
£100,000 on assessing whether £400,000 reportedly spent on modern art for seven hospitals was money well spent.
£280,000 on a conference addressed by Blair and Brown on value for money in the public services.
£400m on 'cost control' for the Olympic Games.
£3m by HM Revenue and Customs tax inspectors on flights, including £2.1m on flights to Scotland.
£16m on the creation and upkeep of VIP lounges in Heathrow and Gatwick despite the fact they are not government-owned.
The authors say it is hardly a surprise that the Government does not have a tight grip on our finances when you see an official statistic claiming that an impressive 102% of all three-year-olds are in nursery school.
That means that the bulk of our nation cannot afford to stay at home to take care of their children on just one income. And for those parents that do manage to stay at home, there is an immediate loss of income tax funds feeding the pool of government funds.
But UK taxpayers are also guilty of waste by not getting Self Assessment tax forms to the Revenue on time - website Unbiased.co.uk reckons fines this year will total £463m. After reading this book, it would appear that protesting by withholding some tax could mean a fine and possible imprisonment. But shouldn't wasting tax also be a crime? Just a thought.
Money Market OP-ED
Those spending or receiving government funds should be accountable for their spending. Because the government’s money is ‘our money’; without the tax payer the government would be a vacuous shell.
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