All the articles I read are about various ideas that George Osborne could use in his budget tomorrow. I have read some really nutty ones, Richard Murphy seems to think all our woes can be solved simply by taxing everyone and anything that moves - its an interesting concept!
So here is my reverse prescription - things I am dreading come to pass, but probably will....
1. No more cuts - yes indeed, we need more cuts, more cuts to quango's more cuts to crazy subsidies of green energy, more cuts to overseas aid, more cuts to Vince Cable's empire, more cuts to Trident, more cuts to rail subsidies, more cuts to NHS bureaucracy and its budget, more cuts to public sector pensions.
2. Personal Tax Rises - Tax take in the UK stands at one of the very highest levels in the Western world, very nearly 50% of GDP. It is not sustainable to demand more from anyone, rich or poor. Tax rises alone are responsible for dragging GDP down as they reduce personal income and reduce consumer spending.
3. Tinkering Gimmicks - Tolley's tax guide is 11,000 pages, hwo is this possible. yet every budget since Brown became Chancellor has resulted in ridiculous gimmicks. Of course, when there 11,000 pages of tax law, there are a lot of loopholes and contradictions - so these need fixing by the clever bods in HM Treasury and so they fiddle. The fiddling makes things worse and worse and the Press pick up on it - disastrously last year for George Osborne. So this year I want to see streamlining, but that is not the way of a Government bureaucracy.
4. Massive Nuclear Subsidy - We have all been waiting, especially my esteemed colleague Mr Drew, to see how far over the Government will bend to accommodate new Nuclear power stations with massive subsidies. What better time to announce it than in the budget, a nice large lump of money to support a French state owned enterprise perhaps......
5. North Sea tax raid to fund Retail petrol 'tax cut' - This is one of the worst decision made by the Chancellor in 2010. Destabilising the North Sea cash cow has cost the country nearly 3% of GDP and tens of billions in tax revenues - all for 3p 'off' retail petrol prices. Sadly, i can see the ruse happening again as the Government seeks to hurt businesses over voters.
What other potential horrors have I missed?
