Let's Take an Axe

Whatever else one might say about David Cameron, and I am not the best person to judge, at least he deserves some credit for taking an axe to a whole series of useless and expensive public bodies in his first months in office. Over here in France, the ultra respectable General Finance Inspectorate has just published a report highlighting the quite extraordinary waste engendered by a large proportion of 1244 public agencies employing some 443,000 person for a budget not far short of 50 billion euros. Obviously not all of these agences are hopeless but many of them serve no useful purpose whatsoever.There is no point in getting hot under the collar or foaming at the mouth at such scandals. They date back to earlier, richer and possibly happier times when governments could afford to reward benefactors or pay off potential trouble-makers by creating special offices for them and their cronies. The world was ever such, but the point is that nowadays, quite apart from considerations of social justice, we can no longer afford this petty corruption, which is exactly what this practice is.

If this or any other government is afraid to tackle the gigantic waste now, then it's a very poor lookout for all of us, for it is tantamount to admitting that the State can no longer be reformed. We can and no doubt should juggle with income tax brackets, change the labour laws, adjust the social security and pension systems, etc. but if we dare not touch the mass of priviliges and exemptions that have accrued over the years, there is no hope for any of us.

Just to finish this over-long rant, here are some of the categories of workers entitled to tax relief:

• Writers, artists and sports people. I wonder if bloggers would fall into that category

• Part-time actors

• Journalists

• Sports referees

• Air hostesses

• Casino personnel

• Divers

• Presenters on French TV

Not to mention the usual crowd: memebers of parliament, local government officials, etc.