Monday, Jul 20, 2009
Last gasp government denial stage
Times: Ministers bury £32bn tax crisis as recess starts
A mountain of bad news was buried by the Government today as it rushed out a series of reports and 26 ministerial statements on the day before MPs go on holiday. The dangerous state of public finances was laid bare revealing that the Government’s tax take had plummeted by £32 billion last year. Figures from Revenue and Customs also show that income tax, national insurance, VAT, stamp duty and corporation tax have fallen by £21 billion and other debts and legal liabilities had cut income by a further £10 billion.
Posted by enuii @ 08:52 PM (1110 views) Add Comment
19 Comments
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1. alan said...
Pathetic people ducking key issues. Bury the bad news, Gordo.
In a way, I guess people's minds are on other things...holidays, kids end of term....and of course a "hoped for" upturn in house prices at the end of this month. Maybe we can convert those nasty card debts into another bank loan secured against house equity?
If it happens, recovery will be very short lived....tax shortfalls, unemployment, spiralling government debt, etc
2. uncle tom said...
The details of these disclosures reveal something we rather like to think only happens in other countries -
- massive state sector corruption.
Assuming Cameron gets elected, I hope he has the courage to tackle the issue; spare no-one in the current government and civil service their time in court, and ensure that the guilty are jailed.
3. paul said...
I fear this has little to do with the ruling party and a lot more to do with public sector largesse generally.
Don't expect Cameron to do a better job - he and his party are now so low on experience, they really would be a liability.
Look at the buffoon Boris Johnson! I'm sorry but Red Ken was better by a mile.
4. tyrellcorporation said...
Paul you are joking aren't you? Tell me you are joking please. Kens corruption is the stuff of legend.
5. quiet guy said...
@Uncle Tom
"The document also showed the MoD had been unable to account for £155 million worth of secure radio sets issued to troops fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq."
So have people really been nicking specialised radio sets? I suspect that the MoD beancounters were not able to get the forms filled in the way they wanted so they labelled the matter "unable to account for" (I've had the dubious pleasure of dealing with MoD financial systems in the past.)
"The Treasury has failed to stem fraud and error in the tax credit system, which rose from 7.8 to 8.6 per cent last year."
That's fraud by the public - not the Civil Service.
You might call it massive state sector incompetence but alleging corruption seems to be going too far to me.
6. stillthinking said...
Maybe this subject would have been a better choice to criticise the government.
7. hpwatcher said...
Seems that the real cost of the nutty new Labour project is FINALLY beginning to catch up with Gordon Brown.
Labour IS the party of tax and spend.
8. paul said...
Tyrell, I know about Ken's corruption. But he did actually get stuff done.
What has Boris actually DONE since being in office? Name one thing. Anything. The huge embarrasement is that Boris is utterly, utterly incompetent.
What you see in front of the camera really is only half the story - apparently he has absolutely no negotiation skills whatsoever, and his short term memory loss is so bad that he forgets what he's talking about mid sentence - WHENEVER HE OPENS HIS MOUTH.
9. bluebeach said...
How do we allow the government, any government, to manipulate any and all parts of British Life in order just to maintain their position in power. This system is rotten to the inner core... I fear for the next generation by what this horrible waste of a skin Brown is being allowed to do and get away with.
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11. george monsoon said...
Looking at the bigger picture, this shortfall sounds big, but just how much are we spending in Iraq and Afghanistan per week?
12. george monsoon said...
I found the "official" answer here.. after doing some digging
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmhansrd/cm070118/text/70118w0006.htm
13. alan said...
@ Paul & TyrellCorp,
All politicians are dodgy. I remember my teacher telling me Guy Fawkes was the only one to enter parliament with honest intentions!
As I had a knock at Gordo, perhaps I should even the score by saying that Cameron was involved with Thatcher when she introducd the MP's expenses facility which was exposed very recently. That was a way round giving MPs a pay rise.
14. debtfree said...
Radio 4 mentioned this morning that this was the biggest fall since 1923 in tax revenue. Looks like we are heading into a mother of all storms.
If the UK loses it's AAA rating then there will be a run on the pound, rates will rise causing a massive increase in servicing debt and businesses will collapse.
Anybody starting to get the feeling that shock no.2, bigger than 2008 banking crisis is around the corner?
15. uncle tom said...
Quiet guy,
The MOD's radio problem is probably down to incompetance rather than theft - that wasn't the basis of my accusation.
It was because several government departments have had their accounts rejected by auditors; the rampant increase in cost estimates for seemingly simple projects, and little details like legal aid costs rocketing, despite a fall in workload.
I've been suspecting this for some time, and I now think there's enough evidence to make the charge.
Primarily, the money is being siphoned out by the use of bogus consultants. People who come and go, are appointed with virtually no scrutiny, and are remunerated without any serious consideration of the work (if any) that they have actually put in.
It is my belief that much of the cash paid to consultants is finding its way back to the pockets of those who appoint them.
- That's corruption.
16. Neil B said...
"income tax, national insurance, VAT, stamp duty and corporation tax have fallen by £21 billion"
Who have they got to blame? Income tax & NI income has dropped because we have the highest rate of unemployment in 12 years.
Stamp Duty income has fallen because the housing market is dead due to properties that no-one can afford to buy.
Corporation tax is down because Darling has priced small businesses out of the UK.
VAT has fallen for two reason: One, because the rate has been reduced and Two, becuase we arent exporting or manufacturing anything.
When will the UK wake up and realise what a bunch of money squandering idiots we have have as a government?
17. Si said...
Boris has talked out against regulation of hedge funds... That's one thing he's done since in office.
Great.
18. str 2007 said...
Re: The MOD radios
My friends just come back from Afghanistan, on handing it back in they had NO RECORD OF HIS GUN !
19. Ndg said...
Paul @ 8. You make a very astute observation. Boris is a fool. Brown is a fool. Cameron, leader of the "Opposition" hahahahahahah, is a fool. Sarkozy is a fool as are Obama, Berlusconi, Harper, Merkel, Jintao and on and on and on and on.
They're an explicit demonstration of 'Clown World'.
Look at the person to your left. Look at the person to your right. Talk to them. Ask their opinion.
'Clown World' is purely a self-invented illusion by the clowns. Skillful clowns but, as always, still a ridiculous circus. Ask those to your left and your right. Talk about it.