Council officers earning more than £150,000 are required now to reveal full details of their salary package. There are strong demands for the BBC to make clear how much it pays top personalities. And the salary and expenses paid to politicians is already made known.
So why stop there? If some council officers have to reveal financial details then why not all public sector employees? And why should such a disclosure rule apply only to the public sector? Let's make it universal.
It's not as outrageous an idea as you might think. In Norway the tax returns of every citizen are published on the internet. Sweden and Finland also make much personal tax information available everywhere.
Let it all hang out, treat it as a matter of routine, the result will be a healthier society (and a bit less tax avoidance!). It might even lead to a reduction in the gross income inequalities that exist in Britain.
Some people would be embarrassed to have details published of the payments they receive. But maybe that's because they have good reason to be embarrassed.
Monday 22 February 2010
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3 comments:
Ironic that till not *that* long ago in the scheme of things in the UK a different tax officer dealt with each individual schedule on a tax return in order that no individual would know the overall total of the tax payer's income/wealth.
Our incomes are not the state's to paste up on billboards electronic or otherwise, whatever Norweigans think!
Mr. Davies, if you really believe that we should all have our tax returns available for public scrutiny perhaps you should pubish your own tax returns on this web site. You do offer quite extensive financial information but not, as far as I can see, your actual tax return forms.
It is in fact at the following link
http://www.winwithchris.org.uk/images/taxreturn.pdf
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