Politicians, spin and stupidity

More political scandal. More politicians exposed as manipulating a system and "forgetting" certain expenses (and tax)  - have a look a this from the BBC.

Two things. Firstly isn't amazing that with all these revelations, not a single act of omission or forgetfulness has been to the benefit of the tax payer rather than to the benefit of the politician. Surely the law of averages would suggest that, if these really are mistakes, then there should be cases of under-claiming coming to light too...

Secondly, would this really be allowed in business. I don't mean so much the "claim everything you can" mentality. I suspect that we've all worked with people who thought like that - and with their opposite who would not think about claiming for a newspaper or other small expense and who have to be reminded that they paid for a team lunch. In general this is private money and so long as the owners of the business know what is going on and are content, then fine,

My concern is with a group of people who are being exposed - not as fraudsters or cheats - but as penny pinching tight-wads who seem to spend a huge amount of time working out how to ensure that they spend nothing of their own while claiming as much as possible from us - the tax payer. As one of the "owners" in this circumstance, I do now know and I am not happy. Mostly I'm not happy with the view that, although a particular politician has been exposed as making a number of "errors" and, as importantly, as a person determined to screw every penny possible out of a job in which they were supposed to be serving the people, feel no inclination to resign.

This is a system which desperately needs an overhaul if public confidence is to be restored. A wave of sackings or resignations would help too. Why not simply use the same rules that the rest of us have to cope with so far as tax is concerned - is the the expense wholly and appropriately attributable to the business being undertaken? No need for a new set of rules - why not just treat everyone the same.

The Secret Consultant for Prime Minister, I say...

SC

Political spin

Today (so far - don't you just love mobile blogging) has been spend in the Albert Hall at the IoD Conference. To be honest, I now can't remember why I wanted to come along - I think I expected a bit more networking. Perhaps later.

I have had the joy of listening to our delightful Chancellor having to defend what presumably even he knows is a ridiculous proposal to have a top tax rate of 50%. Rather than taking notes (which I stopped doing when I left B-School) I can quote from the BBC (who presumably were taking notes since they report things much as I remember them):

"I want to ensure that people inside this country can aspire to do as well as they can for themselves and their families - people want to ensure that if they do a hard day's work, they get a reward for it," Mr Darling said.

"But sometimes, and every government in the world is going to be confronted by this, you do need to make difficult decisions.

"And frankly I think it is fair to ask those with the broadest shoulders to shoulder some of the strain because every one of us, at the end of the day..."

Never believe those people and politicians in particular, when they use the expression "...at the end of the day...".  I found it enjoyable to listen to someone saying both "...aspire to do as well as they can..." and "...those with the broadest shoulders to shoulder some of the strain..." without appearing to see any form of conflict. He did at least have the grace to look a little uncomfortable - but that might always be wishful thinking.

There was no way the 50% plan was going to be anything other than a car-crash. It seems to have been fairly quickly thought out (if think is the correct expression). Perhaps we have enjoyed a reasonable tax base for so long that no-one remembers the last Labour attack and the joy of 90+% super-tax. What happens, of course, is that all those (all right - all of us) earning more than £120k or so can afford to employ cunning accountants and advisers who can find equally cunning ways to ensure that we pay less tax - probably even less than before. 

Let's hope that the rest of the IoD conference makes up for this bit. I doubt it, however.

SC