Andy Burnham reveals tax plan to save pubs and high streets
Andy Burnham has signalled that he will introduce a so-called “Amazon tax” with a massive reform of business rates in a bid to save Britain’s high streets.
The engineered assumption behind Burnham’s bit of theatre is a familiar one - assume government is akin to a household balancing its budget against a limited income. It's a perspective which can be useful, but the background assumption in Burnham's version is that disaster will ensue if that limited income is ever decreased.
The obvious catch is ignoring the absurdly wasteful, spendthrift nature of modern government, the swamp of waste, fraud, incompetence, malinvestment, patronage networks, worthless quangos and NGOs, costly political favours, disastrously expensive energy policies, the wasteful expansion of university courses and so on.
Obvious of course, but engineered assumptions such as this do limit political narratives and discussions. Too many voters seem to vote within those assumptions, too many seem to believe they believe them.
3 comments:
"the absurdly wasteful, spendthrift nature of modern government, the swamp of waste, fraud, incompetence, malinvestment, patronage networks, worthless quangos and NGOs, costly political favours, disastrously expensive energy policies, the wasteful expansion of university courses and so on"
Just what could I add to that?
There are a number (quite a few I suspect) of High Streets that are well beyond saving. The world is now a different place. You rarely buy anything from High Streets except haircuts, manicures, posh coffee and clothing for young people. Shopping has become entertainment. So any tax designed to help High Streets (through the actions of some QUANGO of course) is bound to fail.
James - censorship costs?
DJ - yes, shopping has become entertainment and shopping centres know it. Many High Streets probably are beyond saving, some pedestrianised ones with good nearby car parking may be okay. We know of both types.
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