These worrying statements are included in the autumn statement:
The privatisation of tax collection in the UK continues apace - undermining the quality, credibility, privacy and cost effectiveness of tax collection as well as reducing public confidence in what must be a state activity.
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Richard – do you have any references to the numbers of firms and/or people employed in the privatised tax collection industry in the UK, their profits & cost structure and the amount of tax they generate?
“Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society.” Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. 1927
civ·i·lized adj.
1. Having a highly developed society and culture.
2. Showing evidence of moral and intellectual advancement; humane, ethical, and reasonable
Reduction of HMRC staffing takes us further down a very slippery slope
I am working on this
Hi Richard, I suspect we will see a similar move in Australia. The tax commissioner here has announced before the Senate estimates commmittee, that it will cut 900 jobs from the ATO (Australian Taxation Office). And this is on top of the plans the new conservative government have to axe 12,000 jobs from the Australian Public Service.
The conservatives have set up a national commission of audit to address waste and mismanagement in government, but get this – the chair of the new commission is Tony Shepherd, the president of the Business Council of Australia and chairman of the corporation, Transfield Services( a prime beneficiary of government outsourcing and infrastructure projects). So what do you think this commission is likely to recommend when it presents it report? My guess will be outsourcing to the supposedly more efficient private sector and privatization where possible.
This is despite the fact that the use of private sector providers does not prevent cost blow outs or guarantee value for money. In 2010, the Australian Taxation Office has revealed that its five-year desktop services contract
with Lockheed Martin was 25 per cent higher than it had initially estimated. The reality is that this was never about providing taxpayers value for money – it’s about providing a bigger and better trough for the ‘pigs’.
The CPSU (Community and Public Sector Union) have put a 20 page submission to the commission of audit for what it’s worth – it outlines plenty of examples of privatisation and outsourcing failures, fraud, and poor quality control and accountability. It also argues that the Australian government is not excessive in size or scope (having already been subjected to significant fiscal constraint in recent years)and puts forward the case for a positive role for Government. People who are interested in reading the submission can download it from: http://www.cpsu.org.au/system/files/commission_audit_submission_november_2013_0.pdf or http://www.cpsu.org.au/news/outsourcing-concerns-raised-audit-commn-submission
“the chair of the new commission is Tony Shepherd, the president of the Business Council of Australia and chairman of the corporation, Transfield Services( a prime beneficiary of government outsourcing and infrastructure projects). So what do you think this commission is likely to recommend when it presents it report? My guess will be outsourcing to the supposedly more efficient private sector and privatization where possible.”
I see corrupt crony capitalism, whereby right wing politicians transfer business to their friends in the private sector, is alive and well in Oz as well as here then Anthony.
Sadly this model seems to extend right across the world now (excepting Finland perhaps, which comes across as one of the least corrupt states in the world?). One almost gets the sense that these plutocrats no longer have any shame; that they’re going hell for leather to grab as much as they can while the going’s good.
Yes, I’m afraid so. Perhaps we should check out Finland, which was recently ranked as one of the least corrupted states in the world.
Why the outsource doesn’t work – I am sure there’ a venn diagram in here somewhere …
Option 1 – Ideally HMRC would employee the specialists it needs to achieve the debt cllection results its desires. But to employ these specialists will obviously cost money and if you get the right people, they will not be cheap.
Option 2 – So they go for a cheap outsource model instead. They’ll pay bottom dollar and get bottom dollar service – result is a crap service as we’ve seen so many times before with government outsource contracts.
Option 3 – Outsource but pay top/decent dollar and get a good service. But hang on you’re now paying for the people you could have employed in option 1 plus a profit to the service provider.
So clearly option 2 is the right one becasue you avoid the profit element in option 3 and option 1 is too expensive too.