Where Does The Government Spend Our Money?

[Tired of Waiting]

Yeah, let the Irish have Scotland and Wales

Scotland will have a referendum soon, on independence.

And if Salmond get the timing right, and calls it in 2 or 3 years, during the most painful phase of the economic correction, "brought to Scotland by that evil English Tory Toff London Government", he may even win it!

[Tired of Waiting]

so dave is asking us what to cut... I agree with posters devolution sounds sensible...

+ 1

After all, it is not like they are children. They are old enough to take care of themselves. Why do they need English tax-payers help?!

[dissident junk]

Just to point out, the data is 08/09 (so two years old), and is actually estimated to be more like a £638bn spend.

Edited June 8, 2010 by dissident junk

[huw]

+ 1

After all, it is not like they are children. They are old enough to take care of themselves. Why do they need English tax-payers help?!

So they were children and in need of (ahem) guidance when England was busy forging (by force of arms and Westminster Acts) these nations into a United Kingdom?

Fair-weather nation-building = moral hazard on an epic scale.

[Tired of Waiting]

So they were children and in need of (ahem) guidance when England was busy forging (by force of arms and Westminster Acts) these nations into a United Kingdom?

Sorry? I really didn't understand your post.

And, I did say they are not children.

Fair-weather nation-building = moral hazard on an epic scale.

What do you mean?

.

Edited June 8, 2010 by Tired of Waiting

[huw]

Sorry? I really didn't understand your post.

And, I did say they are not children.

What do you mean?

What's being proposed is that the United Kingdom should be a partnership that exists only as long as it suits the stronger partner (who imposed the arrangement by force in the first place, in order to gain resources, manpower, whatever).

That reeks of moral hazard.

This would probably be recognised by means of "transitional" arrangements that would be made to fund moves by Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland toward independence.

[blobby o mr blobby]

Devolve Scotland and you lose the tax take, big oil wages in Aberdeen and financials in Edinburgh.

[Blod]

Tax credits are just a way of returning money that has already been taken; instead lower the tax rate, to simplify revenue management. They were a purely political exercise. Also same could apply with pensions. Disabled living allowance isn’t means tested in anyway maybe it should be. Why don’t we reduce our contributions to the EU then they could scrap the rebate, again reducing costs.

On the BBC today they had a story regarding the Border Agency splashing out £4M in Afghanistan.

Linky

This story highlights the complexity of trying to reduce the deficit. £4m is a lot on one hand but if Afgans see these countrymen returned they’d maybe think twice about choosing the UK as their destination of choice. Morally we don’t know how many never arrive in the UK and what the hell happens to them on the way. I don’t like the thought of all those kids taking that risk.

Alex Salmond likes to imply that Scotland is a net contributor to Westminster’s funds, maybe after devolution he’ll be a net contributor to the EU, I think not. He probably he still thinks that the EU will have deep pockets. Someone on here must know Scotland’s balance of state funding stands.

[ScrewsNutsandBolts]

a bit harsh.

they might try something like:

• earnings up to £20k - no cut

• earnings £20k-£30k - 2% cut

• earnings £30k-£40k - 4% cut

• etc

• earnings £50k-£100k - 5% cut

• earnings over £100k [mostly GPs I guess] - 10% cut

Another thing to bear in mind is the true effect on take home salary...

A 5% cut on 60k salary would mean a take home reduction of 1200 (lost amount of 3000 would have been taxed at 40%).

A 4% cut on 30k salary would mean a take home reduction of 936 (lost amount of 1200 would have been taxed at 22%).

I would suggest something with gives level percentages losses on take home for all salaries, so it would step up at the tax brackets. That would be a minimum. It would be fair to put a additional cuts on top of that which are exponentislly proportional to salary, to get some real savings from the 100k+ earners.

[Danny Deflation]

So, out of a budget of £620bn, your first cut would be that £1.3bn of aid to Sub-Saharan Africa?

Maybe not the very first cut, but certainly a justifiable early cut. It's like someone who's heavily in debt getting another credit card to fund their neighbour's hedonistic lifestyle.

We give money to China too. Madness, isn't it? We give them cash, and in return they give us mephedrone.

[Tired of Waiting]

Maybe not the very first cut, but certainly a justifiable early cut. It's like someone who's heavily in debt getting another credit card to fund their neighbour's hedonistic lifestyle.

OK, if you were heavily in debt, would you give£10 to stop diarrhoea killing your neighbour's child?

This scenario is closer to the truth than yours.

Of course international aid is not perfect, and there are leaks, but it still saves thousands of lives everyday there.

We give money to China too. Madness, isn't it? We give them cash, and in return they give us mephedrone.

We don't give money to China's government general budget, nor to mephedrone companies. We give to specific charitable causes.

But I agree that as china now has a GDP per head of around YS$6,000 per year, it may no longer be a priority. Afghanistan may be a better project, particularly now, as it can help "pacify" the locals. It appears that this is indeed the new government intentions.

[Lewis Gordon Pugh]

It's all theft.

Do we have a chart for how the mafia spends its extorsion money too?

[Tired of Waiting]

It's all theft.

Do we have a chart for how the mafia spends its extorsion money too?

Bit harsh. It is not all theft, just most of it.

[Cicero]

It's all theft.

Do we have a chart for how the mafia spends its extorsion extortion money too?

Corrected.