The Economic Vision - When in Government Series
A series of papers illustrating how UKpopdems will manage government for the benefit of Britain and the British people.
2. Implementing the Vision – we can govern for the pitfalls and problems of everyday life and deliver the promises we have made to Britain and the British people.
d). The Economic Vision - Increasing Opportunities for Financial Wealth
Summary
Ukpopdems economic vision makes good our promise to secure financial wealth for Britain and all British people. We will do this by implementing policies that bring work, opportunity and financial stability. Over the years Britain has been subject to the most appalling mismanagement of the economy by both Tory and Labour Chancellors and Prime Ministers, where out-of-control booms have been followed by out-of-control busts. In the last ten years, Labour’s frivolous and wasteful spending of your money has hit ordinary families hard in taxes with little to show for it except an engorged payroll of hundreds of thousands of additional controlling bureaucrats, consultants and quangos. In addition, Brown’s urging for consumers to spend, spend, spend in order to keep the economy growing, has resulted in the biggest personal debt crisis ever seen in Britain and all of these debts must eventually be paid off. As people are forced to tighten their belts because of ever higher taxes, loans and debts mount up and reducing them becomes harder. Britain is now heading towards a recession of Brown’s own making, not America’s, and it is the ordinary working individual and families that will suffer most, whilst the wealthy find new ways of making money.
Only UKpopdems has the answer for sustained long-term financial wealth and it comes from our listening to what ordinary people have long said should be done, rather than the self-seeking political dogma and pompous preaching of out-of-touch politicians and financial whiz-kids, whose only priority is to look after their own wealth and benefits. We’ll deliver through simple but astonishing initiatives in taxation and employment, as you’ll see below. In addition, UKpopdems is responding to the millions of ordinary people and businesses who want to see an end to the growing litigation culture that is not only costing billions in claims but stifling restrictions on activities of all kinds. Also included are solutions for transport where high and increasing taxes have been an easy cash cow for governments over many years. They fail to realize that personal mobility is a key element in creating wealth. UKpopdems has listened and, at last, begins the process of treating road vehicles not as destructive pariahs, but the essential tools of business, freedom and wealth creation. The people have made it clear they want environmental solutions to protect the Earth, and for transport some will be shown here and others in the next UKpopdem delivery paper ‘Delivering the International Vision’.
UKpopdems is proposing to address today’s economic problems in a radical overhaul of taxation that promotes wealth, opportunity and empowerment; but we are committing to everyone now that taxes overall will not go up in real terms, even though UKpopdems is planning massive investment in front-line resources and key services. In our second paper: ‘Implementing the Community Vision’ we went some way in explaining where funding is coming from. In this paper we complete the picture. The detail of UKpopdems economic policies and how they will be implemented to create long term opportunities for wealth are shown in this document under the following five section headings:
Taxation
Work
Litigation
Transport
Balancing the Budget
1. Taxation
There are four major faults in current taxation policy that no other party is properly addressing:
Taxes are rising rapidly and ordinary people have little or no control over them.
Taxes are becoming far too complicated making it hard to understand for individuals, companies and tax collectors alike; thus raising costs and the number of mistakes.
The tax system appears to favour the rich at the expense of the poor and middle earners.
Taxes seem to be stifling opportunity and wealth creation rather than promoting it.
Corporation Tax
Our first radical measure is to dramatically boost employment opportunities in Britain by eliminating corporation tax. It means businesses will pay absolutely no tax on profits. This master stroke will result in several key benefits. It means that for the first time in decades companies will be in total control of their own profits; the millions spent on consultants looking for loopholes to avoid tax will end; the cost of tax collection and fraud investigations will end; company profits will rise and bring an instant increase in company valuations and thus their ability to expand and recruit more staff; and best of all it will bring an immediate influx of highly profitable foreign companies that want to maintain their head-quarters and many operations in Britain. The employment opportunities this brings will be vast as will be overall wealth creation for Britain. Employment creating wealth is the best route to long term prosperity and that is what UKpopdems is establishing.
The loss of corporation tax revenue to the treasury will be made up by obliging employers to look after their employees better in terms of at least health and pensions, and even more for foreign employees. See the section on Work for details.
Very High Earners Discretionary Contribution (VHEDC)
The second key tax change we’ll make is to help very high earners make a fairer contribution to the lives of the poorest and most disadvantaged in society. Most people know that if you are rich enough you can get help in finding loopholes to avoid paying tax. This means that the very rich often end up paying far less tax, pound for pound, than low and middle earners. This is unfair and the wealthy should pay more. On the other hand we want to increase overall wealth in Britain and do not want to send wealth creators rushing for the exit. UKpopdems have solved this difficulty with an ingenious initiative called ‘Very High Earners Discretionary Contribution’ (VHEDC). This is a magic tax because VHEDC benefits Britain, the poor and disadvantaged even if people legally avoid paying it. In fact, VHEDC works better if no-one pays it at all: the less VHEDC paid the more Britain benefits. It works like this: VHEDC is designed to capture all income made in Britain and brought into Britain from whatever source. Where these total earnings are above an allotted threshold, then contributions are payable at the VHEDC rate of 55%. Any contribution goes straight to benefiting Britain’s poorest and most disadvantaged; not to the treasury, so VHEDC is not a tax and contributors can have pride in the knowledge that they are directly and personally helping those much less fortunate than themselves.
The threshold at which VHEDC is paid is a wonder of common-sense. We’re talking about very high earners here so the minimum threshold is 10 times British total average earnings, about £250,000! What’s more, for employers, the threshold increases depending on the number of British workers employed and their average total earnings. So the threshold’s 100 times average employee company earnings for 100 employees and up to 10,000 times for 100,000 Britons employed! Just 10 employees doubles the threshold from10 to 20 times earnings. Employees taken from the disabled or unemployed register count triple; so just employing three people could count as ten and double the threshold. You can see immediately how employers and employees benefit from VHEDC thresholds because those who employ more and pay more can raise their contribution threshold more.
There’s even more to VHEDC because liability can be reduced further through allowances. Any earner above the VHEDC threshold can mitigate their liability by directly investing in Britain. This includes buying British made goods and services (or that part which is British); investing in UK bonds and equities; donating to approved charities that support the poor and disadvantaged; investing in approved UK environmental measures etc. Once again, it can be seen how paying less VHEDC will increase benefits to Britain and the British people as a whole. Anyone reading between the lines can appreciate VHEDC is not setting out to catch company bosses who already provide employment for millions of Britons. VHEDC is designed to encourage the very wealthy who employ no-one, or spend their money abroad, to gain personally by giving back more to the country they call their home and the people they live amongst.
Your Say on Taxes
UKpopdems third key tax initiative is to give Britons themselves a democratic say on increasing or reducing taxes. When the fiscal position is known towards the end of our first term, the people can decide in a referendum whether the next government should increase or reduce taxation and, from a list, what to spend more on or less, and by how much (to a maximum percentage). If the result is to reduce taxes, and UKpopdems are elected for a second term then, depending on the tax reduction the people require, we will first eliminate Council Tax and not replace it, then Inheritance Tax and then Capital Gains Tax. A result to raise taxes will result in increases in VAT and direct Income Taxes. As with all peoples’ votes and referendums, the government will stay neutral, just making sure all the information and impacts are available. An independent commission will ensure the vote is fair and fact is separated from opinion. At last, this initiative finally gives ordinary people the empowerment they want to fully participate in the future of Britain at the highest level.
Tax Fraud and Red Tape
Protecting Britain’s treasury from high levels of illegal tax evasion is incredibly important. To do this we’ll need to double resources to detect serious fraud in evaded taxes and duties. It’s not the tens and hundreds we need to worry about but the millions of pounds that we need to recover. It’s probable that hundreds of millions, possibly billions of pounds are lost to big time tax and duty fraudsters. We’ll address tax collection in two ways: 1. because we know tax is complicated we’ll first make sure people get all the help they need to complete tax returns properly and access useful tips on reducing tax liabilities. We’ll do this by doubling Inland Revenue resources and put the majority of them directly into the communities where you live and work. There’ll be enough of them to come to you at your home when you need more detailed help, or they could answer simple questions over the phone. This way, you’ll know you’ve got your tax submissions pretty well right and any queries that could cause problems can be addressed with your local community inspector beforehand: 2. we’ll also double front-line tax investigators and customs duty officials working with the police to detect high-end tax and duty fraud. These high-end evasions are very serious crimes because the perpetrators are effectively taking money directly out of the pockets of ordinary, hard-working people. Because we are massively increasing resources there’s a much better chance these fraudsters will be found and prosecuted.
Excessive business regulation and red tape is stifling wealth creation and UKpopdems is committed to reducing it. Business federations claim that red tape adds £100 billion to company costs. This must be reduced and we’ll work with leaders from small, medium and large businesses to identify where cuts can be made that make business life easier. Our only conditions are that customers, employees and shareholders should have high levels of protection and we may add regulations that are currently missing, to make sure this happens.
2. Work
‘Right to Work’
Our estimate is that there are about 4 million Britons who want to work and need work but cannot find it. UKpopdems know that paid work is one route to long term prosperity, self-reliance and self-worth. Through incompetence and lack of effective policies, past governments have allowed a situation to arise where there are many unemployment hotspots in rural and city areas resulting in whole communities reeling from poverty, discontent, crime and benefit dependency. UKpopdems will end this waste of rejected human resource and talent through a simple initiative we are calling ‘Right to Work’.
‘Right to Work’ guarantees a real job to all Britons who need or want work and are on the unemployment register. With a massive increase in front-line public sector resources there is plenty to do. These will be fully supported jobs with appropriate skills training. It will work like this: beginning with age bands at 18 to 25 (and older bands as the scheme progresses) the national focus will change to one of full employment, and job centres will refocus to a role of training and individual support ensuring that those who are unemployed in the age bands move into appropriate work quickly. To aid this process in the public sector there will be no set limit placed on the numbers of front-line workers. We will also oblige all organizations who receive government funding or are linked to government supply contracts to participate in ‘Right to Work’ on the same basis. In the private sector, VHEDC will encourage employment from the unemployed register. In addition, the elimination of corporation tax will bring a massive influx of new employment opportunities. On top of this we’ll reduce business red tape and possibly employment taxes on condition that employers join ‘Right to Work’. Once independent observers signal that full employment effectively exists in an age band, it will be assumed that all those not registered have independent means of support and, except in certain circumstances, do not require government social assistance. The policy will be further supported by making sure that, in future, employers give a minimum redundancy period of three months basic salary after a probationary period. This will allow adequate time for those who have lost jobs to find work under the ‘Right to Work’ scheme.
‘Safe Pensions’ and ‘Sure Health’
These two initiatives are balancing measures from the elimination of corporation tax. They encourage all employers to look after their employees to a high standard in terms of pensions and health.
The Labour government has all but destroyed good company pension schemes where employees can be guaranteed a percentage of their salaries when they retire, and this is increasing poverty in retirement now which will be made much worse over coming years. The public sector still possesses final salary schemes and this is causing division because these state schemes are paid out of the same taxpayers’ pockets that have seen their own guaranteed pensions destroyed. The situation must be corrected and the clock turned back so that all pensions give a secure payout in retirement. This UKpopdem initiative is called ‘Safe Pensions’. Here, all employees have a right to a final salary pension equivalent to at least 50% and not less than the minimum wage applying at the time (more affordable than previous schemes offering 2/3rds of final salary). Contributions will be made up of both employer and employee payments with retirement age set at 65, but made flexible through raised or reduced employee deductions. ‘Safe Pensions’ also apply to the self-employed were audited contributions will have to be made on the same basis; part business, part personal contributions.
With ‘Sure Health’ we are shifting the responsibility for employee health onto employers. This initiative should achieve two things: firstly, it will give employers a great incentive to promote and support beneficial options in their employees’ lives such as healthier working conditions, ensuring proper meal breaks and vacations, stress counseling and preventative measures: secondly, commercial pressures should drive down health costs and speed up treatment as employers strive for inventive and imaginative solutions. Employers can organize ‘sure health’ in the best way that suits themselves and their employees, but the most likely route is via insurance schemes that will pay for NHS or private procedures. It can be seen that this employer responsibility for ‘sure health’ is one possible route to combat today’s social problems such as obesity, binge-drinking and drug abuse.
Both ‘safe pensions’ and ‘sure health’ apply to British employees and foreign nationals alike. Under these initiatives it is accepted that highly profitable companies will benefit more than those less profitable. If necessary, government will step in to support ‘safe pensions’ and ‘sure health’ where an employer genuinely cannot pay. But, in these cases, heavy restrictions will be placed on employers to keep cash within the company. It would mean that dividends to shareholders cease and directors’ salaries and bonuses reduced to match those of employees.
Other Initatives
Because of the above measures, the wish to eliminate fraud and to protect both British and foreign employees, all businesses will require registration. This is not a measure meant to increase red tape but simply to register income and activity from business rather than employment. Only where income is significant, or employment of others is involved, or the business is linked to foreign nationals need further monitoring be needed.
Our key business objectives are that companies maximize profits whilst ensuring customers’, employees’ and shareholders’ interests are properly protected. Unfortunately, this is not always the case and malpractice is occurring undetected. To combat this problem we’ll encourage and safe-guard whistle-blowers in both private industry and the public sector to help uncover fraud, corruption and dangerously incompetent performance. This will be handled by an independent commission to both offer protection and identify and teat critically serial whistle-blowers who cry wolf. As a balancing measure, the commission will have a role in identifying highly profitable businesses and public sector departments that perform in the most successful, competent, efficient way and that can be shown as exemplary. These organizations will receive awards, allowances and/or special treatment.
Dominant businesses, especially consumer businesses, can often edge out independent and start-up businesses. In towns and villages particularly, shops are disappearing or increasingly similar branded stores. Ukpopdems believe communities should have a helping hand in retaining facilities locally. We’ll do this by obliging dominant organization with a market share of 20% or more, to support small independents and start-ups. In practice this means that a village store can buy in goods directly from a chosen dominant company at that company’s own wholesale prices and have them delivered at that company’s own wholesale delivery rates. This would introduce true competition on a like for like basis and could apply to other facilities like Post Offices, too.
3. Litigation
In many peoples’ eyes there is no more damaging trend in Britain today than the burgeoning litigation culture. There are many dangers in this trend. Not only are litigation costs soaring, but the fear of litigation is forcing rising preventative insurance costs that affect everyone, and many activity choices are being shut down as this fears and costs rise. There are other side-effects, too. Litigation or ‘compo’ is becoming the first expectation instead of the last; lawyers are held in very low regard and appear to be promoting litigation and ‘ambulance chasing’; and in many cases the seriousness of the claim appears to bear little relationship to the actual loss.
The people want this culture ended and UKpopdems solution should be simple and effective. First, we’ll legislate so that a claim can only be brought where the loss has been due to the direct and active human action of another. This will mean that ‘passive’ claims involving inanimate objects (like a paving slab) or an animal not under direct human control (except home pets) can be insured against by individuals or groups rather than result in a claim against a third party. Second, we’ll regulate awards given by a court so they are limited to immediate tangible losses and future losses only where reasonably provable. This will mean that someone physically injured will receive a simply provable award, whilst someone whose feelings are hurt will find it much harder to identify provable loss. We’ll also make it easier for most claims to be heard in small claims courts, thus reducing legal and court costs. Third, we’ll protect leaders and organizers of normal school, club and charity events etc. from third party claims. However, very young children will still need protecting by the adults assigned to look after them.
4. Transport
In modern Britain and indeed the world, rapid transport and the mobility it gives are essential tools for business and pleasure, bringing both social and financial benefits and without which life as we know it would cease to be liberated. Of course there is a price to pay. All forms of motorized transport are potentially dangerous, have huge fossil fuel based energy requirements and produce massive volumes of CO2. But, even so, the benefits far outweigh the problems to the extent that hardly any individual would choose voluntarily to dispense with planes, ferries, trains, buses or cars.
For all its critical importance a proper transport policy has been woefully lacking in Britain. Public transport is very expensive and not always reliable or even available. To past governments, private vehicles have served merely as cows that are permanently available for endless milking, rather than essential tools for wealth creation and social benefit. Traffic congestion is worsening which harms both business and the environment; and while road users pay very high taxes, they appear to get little return investment to make their lives easier.
Elimination of Road Tax Disc
UKpopdems will address these issues in the way the people have long wanted them to be addressed. The solution will pay back over an extended period, but distinctive short term benefits can be achieved quickly. Most people want the right options to meet their needs for safe, fast, reliable and clean travel at fair cost and this is what UKpopdems will deliver. In the first place we’ll make a simple change that past governments should have done years ago; we will eliminate the tax disc on all road vehicles and add the average to petrol prices. This will do several things: first, it will make road taxes fairer by causing drivers to think about actual fuel usage rather than just the size of vehicle. Real-life fuel usage is a much better indicator of CO2 emissions than theoretical published figures. Thus, the less fuel used, the less tax is paid. A light foot and efficient driving will save money, while a heavy foot and inefficient driving will cost more: second, it will create an environment where all road users pay fairly. There will be no room for evasion as with the current disc and therefore worthwhile savings will be made on enforcement resources and central road tax processing costs: third, it will force foreign drivers to pay their fair share of road usage costs when in Britain, which they do not at the moment. To maintain fairness, we’ll guarantee through independent monitoring that government will not make more tax money out of British drivers using this system; any surplus will be returned in future lower fuel taxes.
Ring-fencing Motoring Taxes
Next, we’ll do something else that past governments should have done; that is to ring fence motoring taxes as an exercise in open government. This way everyone can see what is collected and where the money is going. Actually, increasing tax ring-fencing generally is a long term goal for UKpopdems and it’s something people will see more of. For motoring we’ll guarantee to spend 50% on roads, 15% on public transport, 15% on emergency services and 20% on environmental improvement. In terms of the environment, we’ll use these ring-fenced billions to help make road transport cleaner, quieter and safer. That means tax breaks for purchasing cleaner technology, such as ultra clean diesels, hybrid and hydrogen, and the development and use of the very cleanest fuels. The more people know about bio-fuels, the more it is realized that the damage to food sources out-weighs the benefits and so we’ll cap bio-fuel percentages in Britain.
‘Safe Roads’ Initiative
Congestion on our roads is incredibly damaging in terms of business, the environment, peoples’ health, towns and countryside. In fact, congestion is damaging in every way and we’ll make it a priority to get traffic moving and keep it that way over the long term. First, we’ll begin UKpopdems ‘safe roads’ initiative, which focuses on using ring-fenced road taxes to vastly improve existing motorway and major trunk roads, and building new motorways where there is evidence they are needed. Motorways and good trunk roads take traffic away from town and country roads, and this should be encouraged. We’ll gradually make all the most heavily used trunk roads four or six lane dual-carriageway with safe exit and entry slip roads, and redesignate them on completion as near motorway standard ‘T’ roads (for example T46 instead of A46) to encourage their use. Similarly for motorways, we’ll find novel ways to double capacity for those that are most congested whilst restricting intrusion in urban and protected areas. Secondly, we must find ways to relieve congestion in the short term. We’ll do this in three ways: 1. by restricting freight traffic to approved routes so that higher capacity roads are used as far as possible to the delivery site. This will help unblock over-used country roads: 2. by also restricting freight traffic to the inside lane of multi-lane highways unless the overtaking manoeuvre can be completed within 30 seconds. 3. by measuring highways agencies on keeping traffic moving rather than slowing it. This would include recommending immediate measures to speed traffic locally, identifying misleading temporary signs, unnecessary road work obstructions and keeping traffic moving around accidents and breakdowns.
Communities have real power in a UKpopdem democracy. We’ll encourage communities to get together on determining ways to keep traffic moving on the B roads and community roads they are responsible for whilst keeping driver and pedestrian safety at the top of the agenda. This could include experimenting by removing traffic lights; separating pedestrians and cycles from motorized traffic more; town and village by-passes; faster through routes etc.
Public Transport
The availability of clean, reliable, fast and fairly priced public transport options are essential for Britain’s future if roads are not to become totally clogged. There is only so much road space that can be created in a small island. For busses UKpopdems want to implement four initiatives. First, we’ll begin a programme to clean up urban transport by tightening emissions and particulate standards, leading as soon as technically possible, to near emission free public road transport: Second, we’ll encourage cities to grow bus networks and timetable frequency so that public transport becomes the preferred option: Third, we’ll use ring-fenced taxes to grow the rural bus network so that clean and comfortable busses run at least hourly from villages to the main local commercial centre and back: Fourth, as soon as the country can afford it, we’ll extend free bus travel, now available to over 60s, to young people up to 30 so they can develop a habit of travel by bus. It is UKpopdems intention that all bus travel should eventually be free.
For city congestion charging, it is up to communities working together to decide upon this option, but it must be shown through independent monitoring that public transport is first able to cope well with increased usage before charging is introduced. However, we’ll encourage communities to implement initiatives like park and ride and free town centre parking for shoppers to keep town centres busy and economically healthy.
There are signs, at last, that rail transport is making progress in the direction people want it. However, there is still much to do. We want to see operating contracts that stipulate growth in the number of services. We want every long haul passenger to have the availability of a seat and we want to see speeds increasing safely and prices reducing so that trains become the natural option for long distance UK travel. In terms of pricing, we’ll work to understand how to reduce costs in the system so that fares can reduce in sync. And we’ll also make cheap off-peak fare structures much more visible and attainable by ordinary passengers without the current complexity of offerings, perhaps in the model of low cost airline fares.
Air travel is an unbeatable option for those wanting to embark on rapid journeys of hundreds of miles across national borders. In years to come, true Inter-European integrated super fast rail travel may become a real option and we’ll join in making this a reality. In the meantime there are undoubted benefits and environmental liabilities such as large-scale emissions and noise and congestion nuisance etc. See the next paper on implementing the international vision for UKpopdems environmental solutions. UKpopdems medium term plan is to continue to expand direct routes from regional airports for business and social use. It is evident that when these facilities expand there are immediate benefits for local people and business growth. But communities working together in an airport’s catchment area should have a deciding voice so the benefits are demonstrable, impacts can become clear and minimized. We will ask the peoples’ opinion nationally and locally concerning Heathrow and future expansion.
Other Transport Initiatives
Speed limits are increasingly confusing. We’ll carry out an independent review of applied speed limits to make them simpler, more common sense, modern and understandable. The speed limit review will be fast and based on village, town and city boundaries and how well traffic is separated from pedestrians and each other. Some limits will probably increase and others decrease. In a public vote we’ll ask the people about fixed speed cameras, their expansion or removal and how fines should be used.
Road vehicles are lethal weapons in the wrong hands. Unsafe driving has to be identified and stopped and this is something everyone wants. Increased resources allow UKpopdems to spot check unsafe foreign vehicles at point of entry, especially freight traffic. Highway police will also be increased to spot, stop and prosecute dangerous and illegal driving (rather than inconsiderate driving). In an exercise of individual empowerment we’ll enlist the help of every driver, via their passengers, to record both dangerous and inconsiderate driving through the capture of photographic evidence. When good, these will be acted upon officially. Dangerous drivers need to be removed from the road, re-educated and re-tested before venturing out legally again, while inconsiderate drivers can be helped to understand how their actions impact other road users unfairly.
5. Balancing the Budget
This section sets out to clearly define UKpopdems management of Britain’s fiscal position for the benefit and wealth of the people and the country. In summary, our first term policies are not only achievable and affordable, but have been designed to leave HM Exchequer in surplus ready for possible tax cuts in the following term should the people decide so in a public vote. In government, we have pledged not to raise taxes in real terms. All UKpopdems policy pledges are guaranteed by strong and independent regulation. Any tax changes, outside those published in the manifesto, that are required during office will only be made by reference to the British people and with their agreement. There will be no spinning or double counting by our Chancellor on tax. All statements of fact will be made by senior civil servants rather than politicians.
Instead of raising taxes, UKpopdems intend to deliver policy commitments by redirecting expenditure away from government back-office functions and resources, and towards front-line delivery resources and supporting infrastructure. Over the long term, spending on back-office bureaucracy, administration and management will reduce, as near as possible, to just 20%-30% of what we spend on front-line delivery resources. The reduction in back-line staff will happen through natural public sector turnover. UKpopdems target reduction will be 7% a year until sustainable levels are reached. There will be no redundancies and we will not penalise dedicated public sector employees when the real culprit is bad management by past and present governments.
UKpopdems will also create funds for our policies by identifying and reducing waste. No government in history has wasted so much tax payers’ money as this present one; hundreds of costly quangos, failed IT systems, Whitehall bureaucracy, botched initiatives, red tape, foreign junkets, disastrous policy rethinks, Local Authority profligacy, expensive outsourcing of services, excruciatingly costly consultancy, not to mention press officers and spin doctors in every public sector department. Taken together, waste and back-office bureaucracy could add up to £180billion every year. UKpopdems never forget this is your money and should be spent on the projects and policies that the British people actually want, rather than what politicians think you want.
It will take a little time to fully identify what is waste and what is beneficial; which resources are back-office and which are front-line delivery. This job needs to be done carefully to avoid hurt and damage. However, we fully anticipate being able to redirect at least £20billion extra to front-line resources and infrastructure during our first year; and to raise this to £100billion extra in our fifth year of office. To release funds immediately and get started on programmes that bring the most benefit possible, we may need to temporarily freeze back-office administrative IT systems and internal consultancy projects, dissolve many quangos and stop other obviously wasteful programmes. These will be categorised in our first few days of office.
UKpopdems will not be driven off-course or bamboozled by Whitehall bureaucrats in our drive to benefit ordinary Britons. We’ll recruit up to a million extra front-line delivery specialists to combat crime; improve social services, education and health; reduce and manage immigration; strengthen security and the armed forces, boost international aid and other programmes. Nor will we step back from building more prisons, new specialist schools, new community hospitals; new and safer roads; acquiring the best defence equipment and expanding public transport.
As well as being able to implement all UKpopdems community, democratic and international policies within existing tax revenue, our economic policies are designed to produce a healthy fiscal balance capable of sustaining future tax cuts. Our plan to eliminate corporation tax will attract large numbers of highly profitable companies into Britain and thus greatly increase employment opportunities for all Britons who need work. Innovative programmes such as sure health, safe pensions, right to work and very high earners discretionary contribution will not only save revenue but also guarantee better living standards, employment, health and dignity for everyone. Tightening the litigation culture will make individuals, organisers, workers and businesses freer and reduce legal and insurance costs. And our plan to strengthen local community and Parish councils by redirecting front-line resources directly into communities, and putting existing Local Authorities under community control will not only improve democracy, but allow the efficient channelling of funding directly to the people who need it most and can make the best use of it.
For a full fiscal model and breakdown see 'Policy Funding' page of UKpopdems web-site
www.ukpopdems.org.uk
2. Implementing the Vision – we can govern for the pitfalls and problems of everyday life and deliver the promises we have made to Britain and the British people.
d). The Economic Vision - Increasing Opportunities for Financial Wealth
Summary
Ukpopdems economic vision makes good our promise to secure financial wealth for Britain and all British people. We will do this by implementing policies that bring work, opportunity and financial stability. Over the years Britain has been subject to the most appalling mismanagement of the economy by both Tory and Labour Chancellors and Prime Ministers, where out-of-control booms have been followed by out-of-control busts. In the last ten years, Labour’s frivolous and wasteful spending of your money has hit ordinary families hard in taxes with little to show for it except an engorged payroll of hundreds of thousands of additional controlling bureaucrats, consultants and quangos. In addition, Brown’s urging for consumers to spend, spend, spend in order to keep the economy growing, has resulted in the biggest personal debt crisis ever seen in Britain and all of these debts must eventually be paid off. As people are forced to tighten their belts because of ever higher taxes, loans and debts mount up and reducing them becomes harder. Britain is now heading towards a recession of Brown’s own making, not America’s, and it is the ordinary working individual and families that will suffer most, whilst the wealthy find new ways of making money.
Only UKpopdems has the answer for sustained long-term financial wealth and it comes from our listening to what ordinary people have long said should be done, rather than the self-seeking political dogma and pompous preaching of out-of-touch politicians and financial whiz-kids, whose only priority is to look after their own wealth and benefits. We’ll deliver through simple but astonishing initiatives in taxation and employment, as you’ll see below. In addition, UKpopdems is responding to the millions of ordinary people and businesses who want to see an end to the growing litigation culture that is not only costing billions in claims but stifling restrictions on activities of all kinds. Also included are solutions for transport where high and increasing taxes have been an easy cash cow for governments over many years. They fail to realize that personal mobility is a key element in creating wealth. UKpopdems has listened and, at last, begins the process of treating road vehicles not as destructive pariahs, but the essential tools of business, freedom and wealth creation. The people have made it clear they want environmental solutions to protect the Earth, and for transport some will be shown here and others in the next UKpopdem delivery paper ‘Delivering the International Vision’.
UKpopdems is proposing to address today’s economic problems in a radical overhaul of taxation that promotes wealth, opportunity and empowerment; but we are committing to everyone now that taxes overall will not go up in real terms, even though UKpopdems is planning massive investment in front-line resources and key services. In our second paper: ‘Implementing the Community Vision’ we went some way in explaining where funding is coming from. In this paper we complete the picture. The detail of UKpopdems economic policies and how they will be implemented to create long term opportunities for wealth are shown in this document under the following five section headings:
Taxation
Work
Litigation
Transport
Balancing the Budget
1. Taxation
There are four major faults in current taxation policy that no other party is properly addressing:
Taxes are rising rapidly and ordinary people have little or no control over them.
Taxes are becoming far too complicated making it hard to understand for individuals, companies and tax collectors alike; thus raising costs and the number of mistakes.
The tax system appears to favour the rich at the expense of the poor and middle earners.
Taxes seem to be stifling opportunity and wealth creation rather than promoting it.
Corporation Tax
Our first radical measure is to dramatically boost employment opportunities in Britain by eliminating corporation tax. It means businesses will pay absolutely no tax on profits. This master stroke will result in several key benefits. It means that for the first time in decades companies will be in total control of their own profits; the millions spent on consultants looking for loopholes to avoid tax will end; the cost of tax collection and fraud investigations will end; company profits will rise and bring an instant increase in company valuations and thus their ability to expand and recruit more staff; and best of all it will bring an immediate influx of highly profitable foreign companies that want to maintain their head-quarters and many operations in Britain. The employment opportunities this brings will be vast as will be overall wealth creation for Britain. Employment creating wealth is the best route to long term prosperity and that is what UKpopdems is establishing.
The loss of corporation tax revenue to the treasury will be made up by obliging employers to look after their employees better in terms of at least health and pensions, and even more for foreign employees. See the section on Work for details.
Very High Earners Discretionary Contribution (VHEDC)
The second key tax change we’ll make is to help very high earners make a fairer contribution to the lives of the poorest and most disadvantaged in society. Most people know that if you are rich enough you can get help in finding loopholes to avoid paying tax. This means that the very rich often end up paying far less tax, pound for pound, than low and middle earners. This is unfair and the wealthy should pay more. On the other hand we want to increase overall wealth in Britain and do not want to send wealth creators rushing for the exit. UKpopdems have solved this difficulty with an ingenious initiative called ‘Very High Earners Discretionary Contribution’ (VHEDC). This is a magic tax because VHEDC benefits Britain, the poor and disadvantaged even if people legally avoid paying it. In fact, VHEDC works better if no-one pays it at all: the less VHEDC paid the more Britain benefits. It works like this: VHEDC is designed to capture all income made in Britain and brought into Britain from whatever source. Where these total earnings are above an allotted threshold, then contributions are payable at the VHEDC rate of 55%. Any contribution goes straight to benefiting Britain’s poorest and most disadvantaged; not to the treasury, so VHEDC is not a tax and contributors can have pride in the knowledge that they are directly and personally helping those much less fortunate than themselves.
The threshold at which VHEDC is paid is a wonder of common-sense. We’re talking about very high earners here so the minimum threshold is 10 times British total average earnings, about £250,000! What’s more, for employers, the threshold increases depending on the number of British workers employed and their average total earnings. So the threshold’s 100 times average employee company earnings for 100 employees and up to 10,000 times for 100,000 Britons employed! Just 10 employees doubles the threshold from10 to 20 times earnings. Employees taken from the disabled or unemployed register count triple; so just employing three people could count as ten and double the threshold. You can see immediately how employers and employees benefit from VHEDC thresholds because those who employ more and pay more can raise their contribution threshold more.
There’s even more to VHEDC because liability can be reduced further through allowances. Any earner above the VHEDC threshold can mitigate their liability by directly investing in Britain. This includes buying British made goods and services (or that part which is British); investing in UK bonds and equities; donating to approved charities that support the poor and disadvantaged; investing in approved UK environmental measures etc. Once again, it can be seen how paying less VHEDC will increase benefits to Britain and the British people as a whole. Anyone reading between the lines can appreciate VHEDC is not setting out to catch company bosses who already provide employment for millions of Britons. VHEDC is designed to encourage the very wealthy who employ no-one, or spend their money abroad, to gain personally by giving back more to the country they call their home and the people they live amongst.
Your Say on Taxes
UKpopdems third key tax initiative is to give Britons themselves a democratic say on increasing or reducing taxes. When the fiscal position is known towards the end of our first term, the people can decide in a referendum whether the next government should increase or reduce taxation and, from a list, what to spend more on or less, and by how much (to a maximum percentage). If the result is to reduce taxes, and UKpopdems are elected for a second term then, depending on the tax reduction the people require, we will first eliminate Council Tax and not replace it, then Inheritance Tax and then Capital Gains Tax. A result to raise taxes will result in increases in VAT and direct Income Taxes. As with all peoples’ votes and referendums, the government will stay neutral, just making sure all the information and impacts are available. An independent commission will ensure the vote is fair and fact is separated from opinion. At last, this initiative finally gives ordinary people the empowerment they want to fully participate in the future of Britain at the highest level.
Tax Fraud and Red Tape
Protecting Britain’s treasury from high levels of illegal tax evasion is incredibly important. To do this we’ll need to double resources to detect serious fraud in evaded taxes and duties. It’s not the tens and hundreds we need to worry about but the millions of pounds that we need to recover. It’s probable that hundreds of millions, possibly billions of pounds are lost to big time tax and duty fraudsters. We’ll address tax collection in two ways: 1. because we know tax is complicated we’ll first make sure people get all the help they need to complete tax returns properly and access useful tips on reducing tax liabilities. We’ll do this by doubling Inland Revenue resources and put the majority of them directly into the communities where you live and work. There’ll be enough of them to come to you at your home when you need more detailed help, or they could answer simple questions over the phone. This way, you’ll know you’ve got your tax submissions pretty well right and any queries that could cause problems can be addressed with your local community inspector beforehand: 2. we’ll also double front-line tax investigators and customs duty officials working with the police to detect high-end tax and duty fraud. These high-end evasions are very serious crimes because the perpetrators are effectively taking money directly out of the pockets of ordinary, hard-working people. Because we are massively increasing resources there’s a much better chance these fraudsters will be found and prosecuted.
Excessive business regulation and red tape is stifling wealth creation and UKpopdems is committed to reducing it. Business federations claim that red tape adds £100 billion to company costs. This must be reduced and we’ll work with leaders from small, medium and large businesses to identify where cuts can be made that make business life easier. Our only conditions are that customers, employees and shareholders should have high levels of protection and we may add regulations that are currently missing, to make sure this happens.
2. Work
‘Right to Work’
Our estimate is that there are about 4 million Britons who want to work and need work but cannot find it. UKpopdems know that paid work is one route to long term prosperity, self-reliance and self-worth. Through incompetence and lack of effective policies, past governments have allowed a situation to arise where there are many unemployment hotspots in rural and city areas resulting in whole communities reeling from poverty, discontent, crime and benefit dependency. UKpopdems will end this waste of rejected human resource and talent through a simple initiative we are calling ‘Right to Work’.
‘Right to Work’ guarantees a real job to all Britons who need or want work and are on the unemployment register. With a massive increase in front-line public sector resources there is plenty to do. These will be fully supported jobs with appropriate skills training. It will work like this: beginning with age bands at 18 to 25 (and older bands as the scheme progresses) the national focus will change to one of full employment, and job centres will refocus to a role of training and individual support ensuring that those who are unemployed in the age bands move into appropriate work quickly. To aid this process in the public sector there will be no set limit placed on the numbers of front-line workers. We will also oblige all organizations who receive government funding or are linked to government supply contracts to participate in ‘Right to Work’ on the same basis. In the private sector, VHEDC will encourage employment from the unemployed register. In addition, the elimination of corporation tax will bring a massive influx of new employment opportunities. On top of this we’ll reduce business red tape and possibly employment taxes on condition that employers join ‘Right to Work’. Once independent observers signal that full employment effectively exists in an age band, it will be assumed that all those not registered have independent means of support and, except in certain circumstances, do not require government social assistance. The policy will be further supported by making sure that, in future, employers give a minimum redundancy period of three months basic salary after a probationary period. This will allow adequate time for those who have lost jobs to find work under the ‘Right to Work’ scheme.
‘Safe Pensions’ and ‘Sure Health’
These two initiatives are balancing measures from the elimination of corporation tax. They encourage all employers to look after their employees to a high standard in terms of pensions and health.
The Labour government has all but destroyed good company pension schemes where employees can be guaranteed a percentage of their salaries when they retire, and this is increasing poverty in retirement now which will be made much worse over coming years. The public sector still possesses final salary schemes and this is causing division because these state schemes are paid out of the same taxpayers’ pockets that have seen their own guaranteed pensions destroyed. The situation must be corrected and the clock turned back so that all pensions give a secure payout in retirement. This UKpopdem initiative is called ‘Safe Pensions’. Here, all employees have a right to a final salary pension equivalent to at least 50% and not less than the minimum wage applying at the time (more affordable than previous schemes offering 2/3rds of final salary). Contributions will be made up of both employer and employee payments with retirement age set at 65, but made flexible through raised or reduced employee deductions. ‘Safe Pensions’ also apply to the self-employed were audited contributions will have to be made on the same basis; part business, part personal contributions.
With ‘Sure Health’ we are shifting the responsibility for employee health onto employers. This initiative should achieve two things: firstly, it will give employers a great incentive to promote and support beneficial options in their employees’ lives such as healthier working conditions, ensuring proper meal breaks and vacations, stress counseling and preventative measures: secondly, commercial pressures should drive down health costs and speed up treatment as employers strive for inventive and imaginative solutions. Employers can organize ‘sure health’ in the best way that suits themselves and their employees, but the most likely route is via insurance schemes that will pay for NHS or private procedures. It can be seen that this employer responsibility for ‘sure health’ is one possible route to combat today’s social problems such as obesity, binge-drinking and drug abuse.
Both ‘safe pensions’ and ‘sure health’ apply to British employees and foreign nationals alike. Under these initiatives it is accepted that highly profitable companies will benefit more than those less profitable. If necessary, government will step in to support ‘safe pensions’ and ‘sure health’ where an employer genuinely cannot pay. But, in these cases, heavy restrictions will be placed on employers to keep cash within the company. It would mean that dividends to shareholders cease and directors’ salaries and bonuses reduced to match those of employees.
Other Initatives
Because of the above measures, the wish to eliminate fraud and to protect both British and foreign employees, all businesses will require registration. This is not a measure meant to increase red tape but simply to register income and activity from business rather than employment. Only where income is significant, or employment of others is involved, or the business is linked to foreign nationals need further monitoring be needed.
Our key business objectives are that companies maximize profits whilst ensuring customers’, employees’ and shareholders’ interests are properly protected. Unfortunately, this is not always the case and malpractice is occurring undetected. To combat this problem we’ll encourage and safe-guard whistle-blowers in both private industry and the public sector to help uncover fraud, corruption and dangerously incompetent performance. This will be handled by an independent commission to both offer protection and identify and teat critically serial whistle-blowers who cry wolf. As a balancing measure, the commission will have a role in identifying highly profitable businesses and public sector departments that perform in the most successful, competent, efficient way and that can be shown as exemplary. These organizations will receive awards, allowances and/or special treatment.
Dominant businesses, especially consumer businesses, can often edge out independent and start-up businesses. In towns and villages particularly, shops are disappearing or increasingly similar branded stores. Ukpopdems believe communities should have a helping hand in retaining facilities locally. We’ll do this by obliging dominant organization with a market share of 20% or more, to support small independents and start-ups. In practice this means that a village store can buy in goods directly from a chosen dominant company at that company’s own wholesale prices and have them delivered at that company’s own wholesale delivery rates. This would introduce true competition on a like for like basis and could apply to other facilities like Post Offices, too.
3. Litigation
In many peoples’ eyes there is no more damaging trend in Britain today than the burgeoning litigation culture. There are many dangers in this trend. Not only are litigation costs soaring, but the fear of litigation is forcing rising preventative insurance costs that affect everyone, and many activity choices are being shut down as this fears and costs rise. There are other side-effects, too. Litigation or ‘compo’ is becoming the first expectation instead of the last; lawyers are held in very low regard and appear to be promoting litigation and ‘ambulance chasing’; and in many cases the seriousness of the claim appears to bear little relationship to the actual loss.
The people want this culture ended and UKpopdems solution should be simple and effective. First, we’ll legislate so that a claim can only be brought where the loss has been due to the direct and active human action of another. This will mean that ‘passive’ claims involving inanimate objects (like a paving slab) or an animal not under direct human control (except home pets) can be insured against by individuals or groups rather than result in a claim against a third party. Second, we’ll regulate awards given by a court so they are limited to immediate tangible losses and future losses only where reasonably provable. This will mean that someone physically injured will receive a simply provable award, whilst someone whose feelings are hurt will find it much harder to identify provable loss. We’ll also make it easier for most claims to be heard in small claims courts, thus reducing legal and court costs. Third, we’ll protect leaders and organizers of normal school, club and charity events etc. from third party claims. However, very young children will still need protecting by the adults assigned to look after them.
4. Transport
In modern Britain and indeed the world, rapid transport and the mobility it gives are essential tools for business and pleasure, bringing both social and financial benefits and without which life as we know it would cease to be liberated. Of course there is a price to pay. All forms of motorized transport are potentially dangerous, have huge fossil fuel based energy requirements and produce massive volumes of CO2. But, even so, the benefits far outweigh the problems to the extent that hardly any individual would choose voluntarily to dispense with planes, ferries, trains, buses or cars.
For all its critical importance a proper transport policy has been woefully lacking in Britain. Public transport is very expensive and not always reliable or even available. To past governments, private vehicles have served merely as cows that are permanently available for endless milking, rather than essential tools for wealth creation and social benefit. Traffic congestion is worsening which harms both business and the environment; and while road users pay very high taxes, they appear to get little return investment to make their lives easier.
Elimination of Road Tax Disc
UKpopdems will address these issues in the way the people have long wanted them to be addressed. The solution will pay back over an extended period, but distinctive short term benefits can be achieved quickly. Most people want the right options to meet their needs for safe, fast, reliable and clean travel at fair cost and this is what UKpopdems will deliver. In the first place we’ll make a simple change that past governments should have done years ago; we will eliminate the tax disc on all road vehicles and add the average to petrol prices. This will do several things: first, it will make road taxes fairer by causing drivers to think about actual fuel usage rather than just the size of vehicle. Real-life fuel usage is a much better indicator of CO2 emissions than theoretical published figures. Thus, the less fuel used, the less tax is paid. A light foot and efficient driving will save money, while a heavy foot and inefficient driving will cost more: second, it will create an environment where all road users pay fairly. There will be no room for evasion as with the current disc and therefore worthwhile savings will be made on enforcement resources and central road tax processing costs: third, it will force foreign drivers to pay their fair share of road usage costs when in Britain, which they do not at the moment. To maintain fairness, we’ll guarantee through independent monitoring that government will not make more tax money out of British drivers using this system; any surplus will be returned in future lower fuel taxes.
Ring-fencing Motoring Taxes
Next, we’ll do something else that past governments should have done; that is to ring fence motoring taxes as an exercise in open government. This way everyone can see what is collected and where the money is going. Actually, increasing tax ring-fencing generally is a long term goal for UKpopdems and it’s something people will see more of. For motoring we’ll guarantee to spend 50% on roads, 15% on public transport, 15% on emergency services and 20% on environmental improvement. In terms of the environment, we’ll use these ring-fenced billions to help make road transport cleaner, quieter and safer. That means tax breaks for purchasing cleaner technology, such as ultra clean diesels, hybrid and hydrogen, and the development and use of the very cleanest fuels. The more people know about bio-fuels, the more it is realized that the damage to food sources out-weighs the benefits and so we’ll cap bio-fuel percentages in Britain.
‘Safe Roads’ Initiative
Congestion on our roads is incredibly damaging in terms of business, the environment, peoples’ health, towns and countryside. In fact, congestion is damaging in every way and we’ll make it a priority to get traffic moving and keep it that way over the long term. First, we’ll begin UKpopdems ‘safe roads’ initiative, which focuses on using ring-fenced road taxes to vastly improve existing motorway and major trunk roads, and building new motorways where there is evidence they are needed. Motorways and good trunk roads take traffic away from town and country roads, and this should be encouraged. We’ll gradually make all the most heavily used trunk roads four or six lane dual-carriageway with safe exit and entry slip roads, and redesignate them on completion as near motorway standard ‘T’ roads (for example T46 instead of A46) to encourage their use. Similarly for motorways, we’ll find novel ways to double capacity for those that are most congested whilst restricting intrusion in urban and protected areas. Secondly, we must find ways to relieve congestion in the short term. We’ll do this in three ways: 1. by restricting freight traffic to approved routes so that higher capacity roads are used as far as possible to the delivery site. This will help unblock over-used country roads: 2. by also restricting freight traffic to the inside lane of multi-lane highways unless the overtaking manoeuvre can be completed within 30 seconds. 3. by measuring highways agencies on keeping traffic moving rather than slowing it. This would include recommending immediate measures to speed traffic locally, identifying misleading temporary signs, unnecessary road work obstructions and keeping traffic moving around accidents and breakdowns.
Communities have real power in a UKpopdem democracy. We’ll encourage communities to get together on determining ways to keep traffic moving on the B roads and community roads they are responsible for whilst keeping driver and pedestrian safety at the top of the agenda. This could include experimenting by removing traffic lights; separating pedestrians and cycles from motorized traffic more; town and village by-passes; faster through routes etc.
Public Transport
The availability of clean, reliable, fast and fairly priced public transport options are essential for Britain’s future if roads are not to become totally clogged. There is only so much road space that can be created in a small island. For busses UKpopdems want to implement four initiatives. First, we’ll begin a programme to clean up urban transport by tightening emissions and particulate standards, leading as soon as technically possible, to near emission free public road transport: Second, we’ll encourage cities to grow bus networks and timetable frequency so that public transport becomes the preferred option: Third, we’ll use ring-fenced taxes to grow the rural bus network so that clean and comfortable busses run at least hourly from villages to the main local commercial centre and back: Fourth, as soon as the country can afford it, we’ll extend free bus travel, now available to over 60s, to young people up to 30 so they can develop a habit of travel by bus. It is UKpopdems intention that all bus travel should eventually be free.
For city congestion charging, it is up to communities working together to decide upon this option, but it must be shown through independent monitoring that public transport is first able to cope well with increased usage before charging is introduced. However, we’ll encourage communities to implement initiatives like park and ride and free town centre parking for shoppers to keep town centres busy and economically healthy.
There are signs, at last, that rail transport is making progress in the direction people want it. However, there is still much to do. We want to see operating contracts that stipulate growth in the number of services. We want every long haul passenger to have the availability of a seat and we want to see speeds increasing safely and prices reducing so that trains become the natural option for long distance UK travel. In terms of pricing, we’ll work to understand how to reduce costs in the system so that fares can reduce in sync. And we’ll also make cheap off-peak fare structures much more visible and attainable by ordinary passengers without the current complexity of offerings, perhaps in the model of low cost airline fares.
Air travel is an unbeatable option for those wanting to embark on rapid journeys of hundreds of miles across national borders. In years to come, true Inter-European integrated super fast rail travel may become a real option and we’ll join in making this a reality. In the meantime there are undoubted benefits and environmental liabilities such as large-scale emissions and noise and congestion nuisance etc. See the next paper on implementing the international vision for UKpopdems environmental solutions. UKpopdems medium term plan is to continue to expand direct routes from regional airports for business and social use. It is evident that when these facilities expand there are immediate benefits for local people and business growth. But communities working together in an airport’s catchment area should have a deciding voice so the benefits are demonstrable, impacts can become clear and minimized. We will ask the peoples’ opinion nationally and locally concerning Heathrow and future expansion.
Other Transport Initiatives
Speed limits are increasingly confusing. We’ll carry out an independent review of applied speed limits to make them simpler, more common sense, modern and understandable. The speed limit review will be fast and based on village, town and city boundaries and how well traffic is separated from pedestrians and each other. Some limits will probably increase and others decrease. In a public vote we’ll ask the people about fixed speed cameras, their expansion or removal and how fines should be used.
Road vehicles are lethal weapons in the wrong hands. Unsafe driving has to be identified and stopped and this is something everyone wants. Increased resources allow UKpopdems to spot check unsafe foreign vehicles at point of entry, especially freight traffic. Highway police will also be increased to spot, stop and prosecute dangerous and illegal driving (rather than inconsiderate driving). In an exercise of individual empowerment we’ll enlist the help of every driver, via their passengers, to record both dangerous and inconsiderate driving through the capture of photographic evidence. When good, these will be acted upon officially. Dangerous drivers need to be removed from the road, re-educated and re-tested before venturing out legally again, while inconsiderate drivers can be helped to understand how their actions impact other road users unfairly.
5. Balancing the Budget
This section sets out to clearly define UKpopdems management of Britain’s fiscal position for the benefit and wealth of the people and the country. In summary, our first term policies are not only achievable and affordable, but have been designed to leave HM Exchequer in surplus ready for possible tax cuts in the following term should the people decide so in a public vote. In government, we have pledged not to raise taxes in real terms. All UKpopdems policy pledges are guaranteed by strong and independent regulation. Any tax changes, outside those published in the manifesto, that are required during office will only be made by reference to the British people and with their agreement. There will be no spinning or double counting by our Chancellor on tax. All statements of fact will be made by senior civil servants rather than politicians.
Instead of raising taxes, UKpopdems intend to deliver policy commitments by redirecting expenditure away from government back-office functions and resources, and towards front-line delivery resources and supporting infrastructure. Over the long term, spending on back-office bureaucracy, administration and management will reduce, as near as possible, to just 20%-30% of what we spend on front-line delivery resources. The reduction in back-line staff will happen through natural public sector turnover. UKpopdems target reduction will be 7% a year until sustainable levels are reached. There will be no redundancies and we will not penalise dedicated public sector employees when the real culprit is bad management by past and present governments.
UKpopdems will also create funds for our policies by identifying and reducing waste. No government in history has wasted so much tax payers’ money as this present one; hundreds of costly quangos, failed IT systems, Whitehall bureaucracy, botched initiatives, red tape, foreign junkets, disastrous policy rethinks, Local Authority profligacy, expensive outsourcing of services, excruciatingly costly consultancy, not to mention press officers and spin doctors in every public sector department. Taken together, waste and back-office bureaucracy could add up to £180billion every year. UKpopdems never forget this is your money and should be spent on the projects and policies that the British people actually want, rather than what politicians think you want.
It will take a little time to fully identify what is waste and what is beneficial; which resources are back-office and which are front-line delivery. This job needs to be done carefully to avoid hurt and damage. However, we fully anticipate being able to redirect at least £20billion extra to front-line resources and infrastructure during our first year; and to raise this to £100billion extra in our fifth year of office. To release funds immediately and get started on programmes that bring the most benefit possible, we may need to temporarily freeze back-office administrative IT systems and internal consultancy projects, dissolve many quangos and stop other obviously wasteful programmes. These will be categorised in our first few days of office.
UKpopdems will not be driven off-course or bamboozled by Whitehall bureaucrats in our drive to benefit ordinary Britons. We’ll recruit up to a million extra front-line delivery specialists to combat crime; improve social services, education and health; reduce and manage immigration; strengthen security and the armed forces, boost international aid and other programmes. Nor will we step back from building more prisons, new specialist schools, new community hospitals; new and safer roads; acquiring the best defence equipment and expanding public transport.
As well as being able to implement all UKpopdems community, democratic and international policies within existing tax revenue, our economic policies are designed to produce a healthy fiscal balance capable of sustaining future tax cuts. Our plan to eliminate corporation tax will attract large numbers of highly profitable companies into Britain and thus greatly increase employment opportunities for all Britons who need work. Innovative programmes such as sure health, safe pensions, right to work and very high earners discretionary contribution will not only save revenue but also guarantee better living standards, employment, health and dignity for everyone. Tightening the litigation culture will make individuals, organisers, workers and businesses freer and reduce legal and insurance costs. And our plan to strengthen local community and Parish councils by redirecting front-line resources directly into communities, and putting existing Local Authorities under community control will not only improve democracy, but allow the efficient channelling of funding directly to the people who need it most and can make the best use of it.
For a full fiscal model and breakdown see 'Policy Funding' page of UKpopdems web-site
www.ukpopdems.org.uk
posted by United Kingdom Popular Democratic Party at 1:13 PM
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