15/06/2013
By some strange coincidence, government waste is in the news both
in the UK and in
Germany (above).
Interestingly, both countries have their campaigning organisations, in the UK the
Taxpayers Alliance, and in Germany the
Taxpayers Association, both of them beating the same drum. In fact, most countries have similar organisations â there are 29 of them in total in Europe. There is even a
Taxpayers Association of Europe although, rather like the Taxpayers Alliance in the UK being a front for the Tories, this one seems rather too close to the EU.
Looking at the two organisations in the news, of the two, I think the German Association is preferable. It is more focused and is far more analytical. As regards waste, it notes that while public failure is as common as it is costly, this is not so much an immutable law of nature as a "system of collective irresponsibility".
One of its suggestions is that much of the federal spending should be transferred to state level, where there is more scrutiny and accountability â a nostrum we very much endorse in terms of The Harrogate Agenda. Given that you have a functioning and effective system of truly local democracy, the huge epidemic of waste that we see linked with central governments â wherever you go â could be avoided.
To add to that, though, the Association has come up with a
new campaign. Just complaining about waste, it says, is simply not good enough. It wants to make waste of public money a criminal offence.
In their
campaign brochure, the case is closely argued, the premise being that personal criminal liability is used to counter the "It's not my money!" mentality of decision-makers.
The Association draws a parallel between tax evasion, for which the citizen can be punished, and waste, for which there is no penalty. It sees the two as different sides of the same coin, calling for full civil, criminal and legal responsibility to be applied to public servants for their actions. The mismatch between the prosecution of tax evasion and the lack of action against tax waste, it says, "is now striking".
Thus, the Association wants to see a new offence of "Financial Infidelity" in the criminal code, to facilitate the prosecution of civil servants and public officials when tax money is wasted. In addition, a special duty is imposed on those responsible for granting or spending public funds, which permits penalising poor performance. And this should apply through all levels of government, including municipalities and corporations or institutions where public law is applicable.
Alongside this, there should be new reporting requirements, to improve scrutiny and to enable possible offences to be detected, and individuals identified. And, to match the increasingly powerful controls acquired by tax collection authorities, public auditing bodies should be given greater investigative powers. Thus, as tax evasion is vigorously addressed, so should be waste of taxpayers' money.
Unlike our own Taxpayers Alliance, which seems to devote most of its time and energy to empty stunts, here there is a organisation which is actively pushing for something that could have a real impact on the growing burden of government waste.
As importantly, the German Association is addressing the mismatch between citizens and public officials. The one group is held criminally responsible for its actions yet the other is not. Changing that balance is vitally needed to correct the reality of modern government, where there are rules for us, and none for the looting classes. And in this, the Germans are making a start.
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