Civil Service Cuts

So Gordon Brown reckons he can save £25bn by cutting 100,000 civil servants!

Cobblers!

Most commentators reckon that this number will only save at most £5bn!

What he needs to do is cut red tape, but about all pass much simpler legislation that means that whole departments can be axed! People like me, who try and earn a crust, would then spend any time filling in meaningless forms. We might earn some more money which would mean we would pay more tax!

A classic case are the latest rules for EU farm subsidy. The system is very complicated and despite the fact it starts in November 2004, DEFRA hasn't even published the final set of regulations.

One thing he might consider doing is abolishing inheritance tax!

The tax doesn't collect very much as most people take advice which reduces their liability. Also as the comfortably off and upwards are increasingly living to an old age, they have more opportunities to dispose of property sensibly!

I would suspect that abolishing the tax, would have interesting side affects.

1. The rich would come here to die. They go to Italy now which has no tax and probably will force other EU countries to follow suit anyway.

2. Bright accountants would be forced to find other ways of earning a crust. They might even get involved in creating jobs!

3. I also believe it would create opportunities in places where housing is scarce for large houses to be split and rebuilt innovatively to create more dwellings, as there would be no inheritance tax to consider in the project.

But it would never be done by a Labour government!