Douglas Carswell's Blog

Tax transparency? Show us what government is doing with our money first

Notice how Western governments, having spent and borrowed far beyond their means, are all of a sudden interested in dealing with tax avoidance?

Yes, folks.  Having run out of money, they are out to try and get more from where ever they can.  If you happen to be a business generating wealth by using your own intellectual property in different tax jurisdications, they're about to all demand a bigger slice.  Complain, and they'll have you down as a tax avoider.

Perhaps before governments demand transparency from those they want to pay in to the Treasury, we should insist of transparency from those paid out by the system.  In my latest Telegraph blog, I suggest that every welfare payment paid to an adult of working age could be put on line each month.

Imagine if you could look up on line to see who in your neighbourhood is claiming benefits.  It might make us sit up and demand that the welfare state did what Clem Attlee and co set it up to do all those years ago. 

An invasion of privacy?  It is public money.  The public surely has a right to know.

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