Reduce The Red-Tape Burden On Business

This week has seen the medical lobby start calling for a 20p tax levied on sugary drinks to be included in the UK's next budget. While the rationale behind the call can't be ignored (sugary soft drinks don't make any sense for those with no self-will) its introduction would add another piece of administrative burden on businesses already struggling in the recession. It wasn't that long ago that a leading government Minister was advocating one piece of legislation being dropped for each new one coming in to reduce red-tape burden on business. That seems to have been forgotten, it's all gone very quiet on that front. 

Now there is no guarantee that this will make it into the budget but we are getting into the season when specialist lobby groups will start putting forward their well meaning agendas. When politicians seem to do so much to pander to public opinion there is every chance that some of these will come into being. What a shame it would be if this were to happen. Oh yes, there's the cost in implementing it within government too and within HMRC. That never gets taken into account. And we thought that government spending was to be coming down. Same old same old I guess.

Radically Simplify Things To Get Things Moving Again

When it come to the big picture it doesn't get much bigger than government finances. Think family finances and multiply it a few million times and add in the ridiculously complex financial markets and you get an idea of what's going on - or, more likely than not, you don't get an idea. In fact, does anyone truly understand all the complexity that surrounds government and country finances? It seems that as each year passes the level of complexity goes up a notch and everyone seems to accept this as the norm. This is complete madness.

While it is understandable to think that 'means testing' and only making sure the right people get pensions (just one current example but there are many more) is the right thing to do, the bureaucracy involved in making such assessments is astronomical. Think about the public sector staff involved, their costs, buildings, IT systems that never quite seem to work and then consider the time and effort individuals have to put in to fill out tax returns, pension statements etc. 

Just think how much easier and cheaper for the country as a whole if such systems were simplified massively. Not just tinkering around the edges, radically simplifying things so that whole swathes of the public sector could be cut and individual effort could be put towards productive activities that benefit all, the state included. No there's a thought.