Michael Meacher MP

So Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, cheers us up today by telling us that if a quarter of the annual tax receipts foregone through either avoidance, evasion or uncollected debt were actually levied, it could cut income tax by 2p in the £ (i.e. by about £10bn).   It would have been better if he’d said it would then not be necessary for Cameron in his speech today to propose robbing and harassing those who genuinely need benefits for which they have contributed via national insurance contributions and which he has no contractual authority to renege on.   But the real point about Alexander’s throwaway remark is that instead of telling us what might be – he after all is supposed to be in government! – why doesn’t he actually deliver the goal instead of just talking about it?   And it’s not just tax avoidance: it’s top pay in the boardroom which is still heading upwards in the stratosphere and the government just wagging a finger at it. (more…)