Tuesday 9 December 2014

Letter to Observer on tax receipts

The fact, reported by Andrew Rawnsley, that the decrease in "the cash flow into the government`s coffers", despite the existence of the "fastest growing economy in the developed world", is confounding Treasury officials, begs many questions about their competence.(George Osborne only has some very scrawny rabbits in his hat,30/11/14) It`s hardly rocket science! When a government simultaneously raises the tax threshold for the low-paid, refuses to increase the minimum wage by any meaningful amount, drives the workforce into zero-hour contracts, part-time work, or emergency self-employment, and reduces the income tax rate for the richest, is it that difficult to analyse the reason for low tax receipts?
      When millions of workers are not being paid the living wage, having to rely on benefits to survive, whilst bosses squirrel  away their obscene bonuses and salaries in tax havens, and the government describes tax avoidance as "morally repugnant" but reduces HMRC`s workforce by thousands, further clues should not be needed.
With the officials "perplexed" and their boss unsure of what eight times seven is, it`s not really surprising the government is so "far adrift from its original target to clear the deficit"!

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