Drinking Deeply at the Golden Fleece

Public services these days are vast and costly. Some are essential, and some are....

Well.

How do we pay for them?

Although some government income is derived from investment, most of the burden at the moment is taken by taxation and loans. Both have become so entrenched in our economic life that they are now as habitual as breathing. Massively important, but subconsciously accepted. Less discussed in everyday situations than our current medical complaints, our holidays and our dogs. Too big to see clearly. Too boring to gossip about. Too impossible to change. Too much everything.

Nevertheless, here is a note for the clipboard.

There are over a hundred separate taxes in the UK. Nobody appears to be quite certain exactly how many (including AI). The main cash cows are of course income tax, national insurance, business taxes, council tax and VAT on goods and services. But, as every motorist knows, there are plenty more. Indeed, it is almost impossible to do anything in the human-social world without stepping on the minefield of taxation. House, car, holidays, TV, local amenities, rubbish, food, and death; to name a few.

Many taxes have been subtlety renamed as 'charges', 'fees' and 'fines', spreading their influence into car parks, speeding, libraries, rubbish tips, pest control and virtually everything a cash starved bureaucracy can think of. And then there are voluntary taxes...

What!

Surely you jest! 

Not quite. The eagerness with which people part with cash for 'good causes' is nothing short of astonishing in a supposedly impecunious society. Adverts seeking regular donations of up to thirty pounds a month are now more common than the old beer and cigarette ads. People are undeterred by the unresponsive and intractable nature of many perennial charity issues, and they turn a blind eye to the amount of money sometimes wasted on admin, corruption and political misuse of funds. Wallets and purses are flourished at the first sign of shaven heads, baked bean baths and comic book fun runners. It is effectively a voluntary topping up of official taxation in support of overwhelmed public services.

And yet, at the same time, our multifarious social and health problems continue.....

As for sovereign loans being used to pay for public services - see you next week.