http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/politics/10247504.stm


Well before the election analysts said that they would have to make tax cuts much deeper than Maggie, so how come that is unnecessary now? Unless they are proposed big tax increases they will have a problem balancing the books in the remainder of this parliament.

No sh1t Sherlock

'If we're going down, so are you!'

There are a number of problems in that one persons income is another persons sales. So cut the public sector too hard and you will find that the economy is still going down fast. That is what will happen in Ireland.

What about chasing the £123 billion in unpaid taxes? That'll get us most of the way there and it would mean more staff would need to be employed in order to chase it.

Yes but it would actually be very cost effective. Though if they were to chase taxes it would be their rich backers who would be hit hardest. Though before new taxes they can clearly go for evaders. That plus Capital Gains Tax could plug a lot of the gap, though if they have done that they could still go ahead with spending cuts on excessive spending. Though right wing policy is to destroy the tax base and then use that as a basis of destroying the welfare safety net.

Aye, IIRC somebody working to chase tax recovers 6 (?) times more than what they are paid.

Yeah but it doesn't solve the budget defecit. Once the outstanding cash is recovered, it's recovered. Even if you get back all £123bn you say is outstanding, that doesn't even cover the defecit for a single year.

Much better to just change the system so tax dodgers can't get away with it in the future, and make LOTS of cut-backs.

Yes but it goes a long way towards covering that deficit, plus much of the tax recovered will be repeated annually so could make the deficit much more palatable to the markets, You will still need some other taxes and some significant spending cuts. Though once the recovery starts it will reduce much of the automatic stabiliser expenditure such as unemployment and housing benefit.

Indeed you're quite correct but reclaiming that tax in the meantime, whilst addressing the system, would be a greater help than Westminster reducing their supply of post it notes.