| Topic: | Re:Re:Major things we get wrong. | |
| Posted by: | Stewart Dean | |
| Date/Time: | 10/07/13 14:58:00 |
| "These kind of 'aren't we clever and aren't the general public stupid' articles are indicative of a very deep malaise in UK media." Will put a link through to the original figures. It does relate to a problem with the media, but it is fed up with levels of ignorance in the general public. Any by general public I am not saying I am outside of that definition. We need a better media, but it's not one 'the general public' would enjoy as there would be no more horror stories and shock and awe examples of how this country is going down the tube. In reality this country is the safest and wealthiest it's ever been. "The British public are instinctively right when the identify benefit fraud as an issue probably because a large proportion are aware of examples." And there lies the problem, this instinct is wrong as everyone THINKS they are aware of examples. In reality few actually do as many examples may not be real or have been cherry picked by the media (often with many key facts removed to ensure it is a black and white case of someone being feckless). Now you say that we still get to a figure of £1.45bn that is spent on benefit fraud. I would say that the effort to reduce that to target the feckless to reduce that by a half would have knock on effects that would wipe out the effort, unless you cherry pick. In rough sums based upon how many IT contractors there are in London and figures related to how many use 'off shore' tax loops and how incredibly easy they are to use I would say that a tweak to our tax laws could bring in about £1bn to £2bn in avoided taxes. That's just from contractors in London. If it's down to sums then there will always a certain level of abuse in any system. If it's below 1% in a system as complex as the benefit system then that's pretty good going. This can be reduced by simplifying the system, which is tough to do and still keep a 'fair' system. |