The Deficit is a Deceit

Ed Miliband says the Government is being deceitful about the deficit. He says that Labour was not to blame and that the deficit was not caused by chronic overspending but by the global financial crisis. From 2002 the Labour government spent billions in excess of tax revenues and racked up a huge deficit even before the global financial crisis hit us in 2007. There is no deceit - unless Miliband is deceiving himself. I don't think he's that stupid so the only other conclusion one can come to is that he is telling a big fat lie. Die hard Labour supporters like Mr McCluskey, the new leader of the Unite Union, no doubt believe in what Miliband is saying - they would do wouldn't they. McCluskey also believes in fairy tales since he told Jeff Randall on Sky this evening that the cuts are being imposed for no reason other than an ideological one and that the first thing to do in order to deal with the deficit was to stop all tax avoidance. According to McCluskey there are £40 billion of tax to be raised by abolishing tax avoidance (Jeff Randall quoted a figure of £25 billion). How does anyone know how much could be raised by banning tax avoidance and how would you do it particularly when it is perfectly legal to arrange your tax affairs in such a way that minimises the tax you have to pay. McCluskey also wants to increase the rate of tax for high earners. In his estimation obviously he should be able to put his hand in a rich man's pocket for all his needs.