


“The pressing need to cut public spending will be an overriding theme of the coming election campaign. The promptness, extent and nature of the savings made will be the defining issue for the incoming government. This timely book provides some useful pointers.”
“The British economy has a problem of too much public spending not too little taxation. Public spending can be cut and this book shows how. A cracking read on how the fiscal landscape could yet be transformed. We ignore it at our peril.”
“An indispensable guide to the kind of steps we need to take to get to grips with excessive public spending, the biggest economic challenge facing Britain today. This book is a must for anyone who wants to understand how the next government could tackle the fiscal crisis.”
In How to cut public spending, the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) – Britain’s independent campaign for lower taxes and better public services – presents the most thorough investigation yet of this vital issue and a plan to turn things around. If there’s one book people should read before the election, it’s this one on the key political debate of the year.
Edited by Matthew Sinclair, TPA Research Director, it includes a detailed examination of the records of the major parties and sets out a detailed programme of £50 billion of potential cuts and essential reforms to ensure taxpayers get better value for money. Expert authors from around the world set out their experience of what it takes to successfully get a country’s public finances in order.
The Government is spending more than £5 for every £4 it raises in taxes, racking up hundreds of billions in new debts. The recession has exposed the parlous state of the public finances. Politicians’ irresponsible borrowing threatens to create a new economic crisis, driven by excessive, wasteful spending. If serious cuts aren’t made then Britons face years of tax hikes and economic decline. All the major parties are planning to cut spending but none of them have set out a credible programme to make the tens of billions of cuts needed.
Matthew Sinclair, Research Director at the TaxPayers’ Alliance and editor of the book, said:
“Irresponsible government borrowing is threatening to cause a new economic crisis and taxpayers are already struggling after a decade of tax hikes. Spending needs to be cut but politicians but have been slow to face up to the scale of the crisis and outline a credible plan to get the public finances under control. The new book presents a detailed programme of potential cuts that would save tens of billions while ensuring that essential services could still be provided. It also sets out other reforms that would make it easier to deliver cuts in spending without creating a political crisis.”