Is it just me, or are these Tory tax proposals mental?

[C0ckney]

all the parties are offering tax cuts?

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

They're all offering to cut government waste.

[C0ckney]

what like ID cards? the non-functioning, £20 billion and counting, NHS central computer system? the disgrace that is the tax credits system?

that would be a good start.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

None of which were instigated to be wasteful, of course. All three were introduced under the premise that they would, in one way or another, make savings.

That's not to say they worked, of course.

[TheStinger]

The non Dom question needs to be resolved.

I don't mind the tory proposal, however then promising to spend the money is a bit daft when they can't be sure how much they will get

[C0ckney]

Originally posted by Lazarus and the Gimp
None of which were instigated to be wasteful, of course. All three were introduced under the premise that they would, in one way or another, make savings.

That's not to say they worked, of course.

obviously nothing the government does is set up with the express intention of wasting money. indeed all the ones i mentioned have a laudable aim, but all have unpleasant side effects, such as: being an outrage to civil liberties; a threat to privacy; completely failing to achieve their stated aims; hurting those they're supposed to help; and of course, wasting vast sums of our money.

i'm also curious as to how exactly any of the programs i mentioned would 'make savings'.

[Cort Haus]

C0ckney, the NHS system is not all as bad as the baying press like to portray it. There are certainly problems, and some bad decisions by top management, but there are successful elements that are already improving health care provision.

The previous system was hardly great, by the way. Would you rather have a combination of manual systems and creaking DOS systems which could collapse at any moment with severe consequences?

Despite the problems, the NHS system is a worthy vision, and the negative press coverage is not the whole picture.

Agree entirely on ID cards, though.

[C0ckney]

cort, i agree the idea is a worthy one, although i have reservations about people's medical records being on a huge database that 10,000s (100,000s?) will have access to. especially given the government's record with big computer systems.

my issue is the fact that £billions of our money has been spent on it, and it doesn't work in an acceptable way. i also read a few months ago that hospitals were being quietly encouraged to buy their own individual systems, which seems to be a clear indication that the project's main goal is not going to be achieved.

[Solly]

At least they seem to have shut up about climate change for now.

A simple promise to cap public expenditure to 35% of GDP is all that's needed.

[Dauphin]

I'm concerned, the Tory tax policies were silly, and now Labour is nicking them.

The recent proposal of doubling the threshold limit for inheritance tax for married couples to £600,000 is hilarious, not least because it has no effect on the tax burden of a married couple whatsoever.

And what has Labour got against single people, why do they never get any tax breaks to make their loneliness more bearable?

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

The one funny point is that in their non-dom changes, they're only budgeting to get 1 billion back, rather than the 3 billion the Tories dreamed up.

[Dinner]

A rare moment of truthfulness?

[C0ckney]

the one funny bit is that having bottled an autumn election because of some popular tory policies, labour has now been reduced to stealing those same policies (again).

[Dinner]

The American political parties steal back and forth so often it is sometimes hard to tell them apart depending on the issue. Who would have thought that Clinton, a Democrat, would be the person to bring about real and lasting change to the welfare system? But he was.