Conversely, we can say that if the same amount of money is cut from spending, the saving for government will be nothing like it might appear at first sight. But the multiplier effect on economic activity will be more than it appears.

Do our highly educated government economists take all this into consideration when deciding the budget? Or do they simply assume that every £ of extra spending, or taxation reduction, increases the deficit by the same amount?

“Yada yada there’s no value to having the NHS, schools, etc.”

Making more silly claims I see, LB.

Be careful what you say, bearing in mind companies like BAE, Serco, G4S etc are classed as private sector jobs, however most if not all their income is generated form the tax payer.

? Frank what are you on? Work is still work whether you do it here or on Mars.

A wealthy fat CEO appearing two weeks after intensive heart surgery in front of concerned shareholders to prove they are still at the reins of the company is producing economically valuable and taxable work with impacts in the future, just as the twenty people who prevented him dying on or before the table also produced valuable work which impacts us into the future.

Tax is a form of a collective buying group where everyone which joins it by birth or activity pays in differing amounts, and gets out differing amounts. The hope is that that more at less cost than buying individually, but that’s only a second order concern because there are somethings which can only be purchased, contractually negotiated and produced collectively, ie common law and order. Which since without it its hard to have even a stone age, is pretty priceless.

Tax is topped up with Debt secured against future tax revenues to buy in, invest to create or provide itself all the goods and services it buys. Just because a member of a buying group may receive money or goods and services concurrently doesn’t necessarily mean there has been waste. Indeed there are lots of tax breaks for ‘private’ employees who do public good ie by reducing the engine size of there city motor. In fact it may be private sector workers who do nothing public except pay in less than they get out who may or indeed are the real problem layabouts in society.

It is so important people pay the real costs of the economic and other factors they enjoy. While income tax may well be best when kept below 54% top, there should be surcharges for shirkers and layabouts in either the public or private sectors and at any income level who don’t reduce their liability through work for and by the public good.

Public servants do not generate tax revenues. They are recipients of the tax generated by the private sector. Public sector employees paying tax is meaningless, it is just a wasteful recycling exercise. It would make much more sense to pay public sector employees an income with no tax, and save all the bureaucracy

Henry Ford understood a balanced budget