From the BBC:
The UK government "dodged democracy" by not holding referendums on the VAT and National Insurance increases two years ago, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has said.
Those who wish to take money from hard working businesses should "man up" and consult the public, he told the Daily Telegraph. The public is facing a third year of steep spending increases, and ministers have said if the government wishes to increase spending by more than 2% they should hold a public vote.
Mr Pickles told the Telegraph that his own government was "cheating their taxpayers" and pledged to introduce new laws to stop abuse of the system.
"The days of the knee-jerk tax and spend hike are over," he said.
He raised the prospect of lowering the threshold for a referendum in future and said he would legislate to close any other loopholes which enable the government to avoid such votes.
He revealed that only about a third of government departments had committed to freezing their budgets in the next financial year, despite government calls for restraint as households faced difficult economic times.
Monday, 28 January 2013
Government 'dodging democracy' over tax rises, says minister
My latest blogpost: Government 'dodging democracy' over tax rises, says ministerTweet this! Posted by Mark Wadsworth at 07:47
Labels: Council Tax, Hypocrisy, Obesity
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7 comments:
This is basically what California does. The brightest minds said that California would go bust if it didn't let its politicians raise taxes whenever they fancied it. California is no longer running a budget deficit.
BE
BE, yup, that's what happens when you put loony left wing old hippies like Jerry Brown in charge.
Nice one!
Maybe you should send it to Mr Pickles. He would probably agree with it!
AC, thanks but I doubt it. Pickles is at the vanguard of Home-Owner-Ism.
It's a bit like your earlier post: "No, not your 2% rise, my 2% rise".
B, thanks, that would be a genius idea for a post but I have never posted anything that clever.
What gets me is the sheer hypocrisy of the Fat Boy. If he wanted councils to freeze council tax, which he obviously did, WTF didn't he set the threshold at 0%, instead of setting it at 2% and then complaining when councils only increased their tax by just under 2%?
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