The Times reports that this week the government has proposed to allow local authorities to levy an additional tax on businesses in the form of an infrastructure tax which will be paid by business in the city of London, and will be limited to 4p in the pound. This new tax is being introduced to fund the Crossrail system which is estimated to cost the Government around £15 billion.
Business already pays far more tax than it needs to. For the tax year 2007-8 businesses will pay over £50 billion in corporation tax alone. This is more than enough to pay for Crossrail several times over in just one year.
The government could afford projects like Crossrail if it were to reduce the amount of money it squanders in waste. This year the government has wasted £82 billion of its tax revenue, which would pay for five Crossrail systems with £7 billion to spare.