Tax Reductions and Simplification Will Win the Election

Lower taxes do not threaten the economy - lower taxes enhance the chances  of recovery  from the Brown abyss.  So every time the Conservatives state they will reduce Brown taxes their poll lead leaps upwards.  Inheritance tax abolished for ordinary housing stock? We all want that. Lower National Insurance taxes?  Of course, who wants to raise taxes on jobs?  Lower taxes not tax credits?  Of course that is sensible, for what is the point of all those administrative costs for taking away earnings that then have to be reclaimed as 'credits'.

Once into the swing of this we can see that there should not be an expensive 'national' health service, provider-oriented, meeting every risk however remote or rare; but a recognition of the place of insurance and its automatic adjusters operating in the provision of health services; most of us are mostly well, with well recognised crisis points like childbirth, road and industrial and home accidents,  and the eyes, teeth, wearing-out of joints  syndrome;  other stuff  and should be budgeted for separately, again by using insurance principles and, probably, individual higher contributions for those in fear or genuinely at risk.  There is a great deal in favour of the provision of community sports facilities and the better general health levels that result from parks, gyms and swimming pools.

Nor should there be such an aggressively all-embracing state education system.  Vouchers for educational provision are well understood and well worked-out - a great improvement on the take it or leave it state monolith, and cheaper by the administrative burden a producer top-heavy educational service brings.  And educational vouchers could be available throughout life, to be used at opportune moments by all, rather than having educational expenditure inappropriately concentrated on particular age groups.

Apart from the arteriosclerotic social provision produced by the dying hand of redistributive big state government being so inefficient and democratically inappropriate,  the reduction of individual consumption from the plundering of our earnings by big government in the name of 'fairness' reduces all of our living standards by lowering the growth path.

It's not  fair at all.  It's foul -  impoverishing living standards and bullying people and their life styles.  A very poor fist, clunking or otherwise, has been made of tax and spend over the last thirteen Labour years.  None of us are social neanderthals refusing to pay up for decent social provision for all, but tax levels are too high for growth to be re-established, and too high for the effective pursuit of our diverse and individual happinesses.