If you could be Chancellor for a day...

Spare a thought for Alistair Darling today, when he stands up to make his first ever Budget speech. Being Chancellor of the Exchequer must be a tough job. His role, essentially, is to take more money from the public, then spend it on inefficient services that everyone loathes, while at the same time trying not to lose votes. In his Budget speech, he has to announce all this in such a way that it sounds like we will all be better off.

In case Mr Darling is struggling for ideas, why not give him a helping hand, by telling us below what you would do if you were Chancellor.

Comments

[David Bottle]

If I was Darling, I would resign while I had the chance before Labour get booted out at the next election. And make sure I blamed the useless Brown for the state of the nation.
Tax, tax, tax, taxi.....

[Alan]

I would at least help pensioners who are being left behind with ever-increasing costs of fuel, council tax and water.

The winter fuel allowance should be doubled to £400 and the council tax replaced with a much fairer sytem based on ability to pay. For a start at least restore the help that was given and than snatched back.

This Government will suffer the wrath of the grey vote if nothing is done.

[c l barnes]

SHOOT MYSELF !!!

[Realist]

I would re-introduce mortgage interest relief, abolish stamp duty on property worth less than £200,000, raise CGT for second-home owners, increase tax on cigarettes, stop pandering to big business and rich foreigners, admit past failures, say sorry, smile and take a bow

[P]

If I were chancellor for a day I would sort out the HMRC and the Tax Credit Farce. The way that I would do this is to teach all directors and employees of HMRC the children’s song “There’s a Hole In My Bucket”. You may recall that this is the song where Henry repeatedly complains to Liza that he has a hole in his bucket, and Liza makes various suggestions on how he should get his bucket repaired. Of course the song starts and finishes with none of Liza’s suggestions helping Henry, who still has a hole in his bucket. My feeling is that by learning this rhyme they would develop an understanding of the frustration that their customers (we tax payers that is) feel when dealing with them.
I would also take all of their personal details including birth dates, full names, and bank account details; addresses etc, and post them on to a website such as Facebook to allow any identity theft criminals access to them. After all that is no more negligent than the way that they treat our confidential data, and perhaps a taste of their own medicine might be good for them. You may think this childish behaviour but since they regard themselves as above the law – what other choice do we have!
I know that I am only one of thousands of people affected by this issue. Check out http://www.taxcreditoverpayment.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk and you will see what I mean!

[charles Pipe-Wolferstan]

1. I would abolich Council Tax and replace it with a system based on ability to pay preferably a federal tax (as in Canada & the U.S.A.) or a local addition to VAT
2.. I would notify the EEC that unless the accounts for the last 9 years were signed off in the next two years GB would make no furter contributions.

[J Putcha]

1. Stop copying the shadow chancellor. Listen to the people for fresh ideas.
2. Get off the Non-Dom bandwagon and other easy ways of raising money. There is very little understanding of the issues both inside and outside government. You need their money, try to keep them here. Per capita they pay lot more in taxes to the UK than their counterparts who are actually domiciled here.
3.'Labour Party' should be about labour ,meaning work, not just welfare. Promise to offer atleast a 100 hours of work to every person aged 18-65 who is capable of work but on benefits . Let the money be used by local authorities to run schemes for maintaining all public properties, council houses, street cleaning, garbage collection etc and use these to guarantee employment , not benefits. Spend the money on training and rewarding work. There is now an automatic right to benefits , if you are not in work or do not want to work -cut the chord.
4. Support the weakest and least disadvantaged by all means but make sure children and young people see and access education as the best and only way to prepare for adulthood, and for taking responsibility for their own lives.

5. Encourage use of public transport but make sure that there is enough close to their doorstep and that it is the cheapest way of getting around.

[chris]

abolish all taxes and then resign

[Tin Foil Hat]

I would ask the Prime Minister if he could sell me some of his personal gold which he bought when the public gold was being sold off cheaply! Then I would move to China or Russia, which are just about the only two places where they have seen this financial crisis coming. They were clever enough to buy some of Mr. Brown's gold at his bargain auction for his pals.

[John]

Easy - first the no brainer - abolish those nasty, discriminatory, political taxes that raise less than the cost of administration and collection - Capital Gains Tax (CGT), stamp duty, insurance tax and inheritance tax (IHT).

Secondly, to prevent politicians further complicationg the system, every individual and company requested to file a tax return gets paid by the government the cost of doing so. This brings home the cost of overheads to them.

Thirdly institute a flat rate income tax system to replace Income Tax & National Insurance, which everyone pays to keep the cost of administration simple.

Forthly, the benefits system, ...where to start ? With the mammoth complexity and cost of administration, I think the only solution is to start again. How about giving everyone an untaxed subsistence level income, according to need. Perfectly affordable, just takes a little time to get your head around the concept !

This massive, and fair, simplification will mean that hundreds of thousends of civil servants become redundant and available to do more valuable work elsewhere in the economy.

Not rocket science, is it !?

[David Raynes]

VAT on food & Childrens clothes would be a good start. Successive Chancellors have locked themselves into a blind alley over this. Tesco et al would be every efficient at collection. These goods are taxed in France and are not significantly more expensive than UK, in fact VAT on supermarket food encourages farmers markets and "less travelled food". At the same time modest increases in OAP to mollify the poorer older population.

[Tim Hamilton]

Stop bleeding the forces of funding so they can actually have the kit they need to do the job that the Labour government sent them to do.

[Jan]

If I were Chancellor I would make the tax system a lot fairer.Zero tax for anybody earning less than 20K and everybody else to pay a rate of 20%.Abolish council tax and replace it with a local income tax.Abolish tax credits.I would tax people who have more than two children,if they want them,they should pay for them.All the civil servants made redundant by a much easier tax system could be re-employed working on the frontline stopping illegal immigrants coming to the country.I would tax junk food and fast food outlets and subsidise fruit and vegetables (except potatoes).Double the duty on alcohol and cigarettes.Stop career single motherhood by stopping benefits for all but the first child.Double pensions.I would end the discrimination whereby women born before 1950 have to have an extra nine years contributions to get a full pension.

[Mike Sheridan]

1. Abolish all Tax Credits
2. Raise personal allowances to £10,000
3. Convert all government pension promises for the state employees to defined contribution schemes.
4. Invest their pension contributions in gilts and equities so the pensions in the future are paid out of accumulated funds, not current taxation, for example Council tax.
5. Impose the same rules for retirement ages on state employees as everybody else.
6. Abolish NIC and Council Tax and raise the Income tax to the real rate required, so that people understand what the government is really doing!
7. Reduce the employers NIC (payroll tax)to 5% for all UK registered companies with sales below £50m or fewer than 250 employees.
8. Scrap Income Shifting tax provisions coming in from 6 April 2008
9. Abolish stamp duty on shares
10. Abolish inheritance tax for all UK born individuals - full stop. Anyone who has accumulated assets during a lifetime will have paid tax as they go along.

[steve tea]

Cut all MP's salaries by 50%. They only work 50% of the time.

Make them account and justify all expenses.

Cut the Foreign aid budget to 0% saving £9Billion.

Make councils accountable for all their spending and the people decide the rate at which it is set.

Sell all state owned property such as grace and favour mansions & chequers.

Make Gordon Brown pay every penny back for the Gold he sold cheaply.

English taxpayers do not subidise Ireland, Scotland or Wales.

The NHS is not free at the point of entry to foreign nationals. Should save £ Billions

Education is not free at the point of entry to foreign nationals. Should save £ Billions.

All benefits stopped for those who shirk work.

[guy]

Browns' 6 volumes of tax rules would be 3 or less in no time if I had my way

Income tax

Scrap national insurance
Flat rate 30 % tax
personal allowance 10 K pa
No tax for under 18 s or over 70 's
No individual would pay more than 100 K PA tax

No change for the term of parliament

Savings and pensions

No tax on the first £ 500 of annual savings interest

I would phase out the state pension and replace it with the following

Everyone somewhere around the age 40-45 and below, not sure exactly best age
would have an untouchable government guaranteed account at .5 % above inflation .

anyone older would be able to rescind their pension rights and have one as well, you can put in as much as you want or can and in family members
you can only use it for retirement or serious or terminal illness

when this has sufficient funds in then that person can claim a drawdown retirement income from the capital.
of course people can still have private or company pensions as well

think ..if state pension is £ 100 per week if you have 100 K in a fund at 65 years old that is 1000 weeks pension or 20 years at current rates with the capital still growing above inflation

VAT

20 % nice round figure

Work

I would drastically cut business red tape , especilally for small business to help create jobs for the 2 million government employees i would lay off

Quangos

Scrap all quangos, every last one

NHS

I would follow the european funding model of individual insurance .

The free for ever NHS policy was the dumbest policy in british history and there is some stiff competition

Charity

Tax incentives for contributions to local charities that help people

Armed forces

Either double defence spending or scrap them altogether , do it properly or not at all
Scrap trident ( but keep nuclear weapons)

Just a few little ideas,

[robin smith]

If I were chancellor for the day I would demand that the blundering First Lord of the Treasury that is looking over my shoulder and continually telling me what to do to shut up - I would also be asking him to publically account for the sell off of our gold reserves at knock down prices , why he knowingly and purposefully plunged over a million families into poverty with the disasterous tax credit mess , why he is intent on joining us to Europe without a referendum and why he shouldnt be kicked out of office along with his entourage of freeloaders

[jon]

FLAT TAX
FLAT TAX
FLAT TAX

[Andrew]

1. Abolish ALL the current taxes (and associated mess of credits etc) and replace it with a system of universal VAT at around 25-30% on all non-essential items (food, clothing for children, public transport, energy etc). That way, those who earn more and therefore spend more, will pay more.

2. Full medical reviews tri-monthly for all people claiming invalid benefit.

3. The dole should be a safety net, not a way of life. After 6 months on it, it is withdrawn and you go to the workhouse or the army.

4. Entry to university would be by academic merit only. The "new" universities would be closed down. The top students would get living grants.

5. Urgently trim unnecessary civil servants. Scrap their pension schemes and perks.

[impoverished student]

How about a giant decrease/abolishment of University tuition fees - tuitiion should be a right, not a privilege.
Reinstate corporal punishment. The little chavs might think twice about their actions if the consequence is getting the cane. When did detention ever teach anyone a lesson?
Inheritance tax - The government should keep its filthy paws off that which is not theres. Our relatives earned that money and if they chose to pass it on to us, then they intended it to stay in the family, otherwise they would have left it to the governement.
Public transport - If you're going to increase the cost then at least give us a better service!
Illegal immigration - do something about it! Follow Australia's example.
Stop lying to your public, we can only trust a government who is honest with us.

[Neil Arthur]

Report the next door neighbours to the police for impersonating a Prime Minister1

[kelly]

1. stop paying the royal family.
2. stop paying all these mp's
3. slash the entire civil service by 85% and get rid of their buildings.
4. withdraw from Iraq & Afganistan
5. get rid of immigrants that claim and don't contribute.
6. windfall tax banks, supermarkets, and energy suppliers that prey on consumers.
7. curb local authority expenditure and all nanny state activity.
8. cut tax & council tax & fuel duty sharply so that the taxpayer is better rewarded.
9. stimulate british industry and manufacturing so that we actually start making things again instead of waffling about. we need to make cars, tractors, ships, etc., once again.
10. stimulate british farming so that we actually feed ourselves and curb supermarket power and food imports. we need our farmers.
11. slash bank base rate by 2%.
12. restrict any further residential property market gains by a capital gains tax above inflation.
13. adjust the RPI so that it actually reflects inflation as felt by the man in the street.

[Alan]

Like John, I would go for simplicity in taxation so that it would be far more difficult to cheat the system. I would pay an adult's allowance to all citizens/residents. All income would be taxed (at source if possible). A figure of 20% would seem sensible for the vast majority, with those on much higher incomes assessed to pay another 20%. I would introduce VAT on everything, but at 5% for the essentails in life (food, housing, clothing and energy) and either 15% or (only if necessary 20%) for everything else. I would change excise duties so that they were percentages based on the value/amount of alcohol/tobacco/fuel so that they automatically rose (or fell) in line with the underlying cost of the product. Hopefully, enough extra money would be brought in by the simpler VAT and Income Tax systems to enable several taxes to be abolished. Removal of Council Tax would be desirable but I do think that in a mall, overpopulated and overcrowded country an annual property tax would be necessary. I would allow people over a certain age to defer paying this until after death, if necessary.

[Matt Myers]

Abolish usury

Restore the right to issue debt free currency to the Treasury.

Destroy the Bank of England

Destroy the monopoly the private banks have over the money supply and return it to democratic control

[mj]

Abolish national insurance, flat rate of income tax at 10%, tiered VAT from 0 to 20% based on necessity of goods. (eg food 5%, Jewellery 20%).

[Phil C]

The first thing I would do is stop incentivising those on benefits to have more children and make it compulsory for all those on benefits to do 30 hours of free work per week in the public sector. I would re-introduce the married couples tax allowance, increase allowances for pensioners.

[Phil Lomas FCA]

The best vote winner for all concerned would be to allow pension companies to claim back the tax credits on investments which Brown got rid of in one of his first budgets. This would boost the markets and take a lot of pain away from thousands who are seeking to rely on personal pension arrangements.

[Robbed by a Sub-Prime Minister]

I would make amends to all the people that I had robbed.

Darling has announced that he "wants an end to child poverty." The "announcement" makes him appear nice, sensitive, and caring for small children.

A few years ago, Darling visited my place of work. The photographs in the paper showed him kneeling down, talking to an elderly woman in a wheelchair. He wanted to appear nice, sensitive, and caring for the elderly.

He does care about his huge pay, pension, and his mansion in the same Edinburgh millionaires row as JK Rowling.

Is he so caring about those that his government has so deliberately robbed? I dont think so. His snout is so deep in the trough that he cares about nothing else.

[Jeremy Poynton]

What would I do? I would take Brown out with a few blows to the head with the Red briefcase.

Sorted.

[PityTheFool]

If I was Chancellor I would introduce an immediate cull of Badgers...

[F. Barkley]

1, replace Council tax with something less repressive.
2. Increase personal allowance - too many low paid workers pay tax.
3. Abolish tax credits - too complicated and too expensive to administer.
4. Abandon ID card scheme on the grounds of cost.

[Ian Woolger]

I would immediately scrap income tax for every Uk citizen and replace it with VAT at 30% on everything. Increase the powers of customs and excise, return the Military from Iraq and Afghanistan to patrol our borders, stop smuggling and illegal imigration. Re nationalise the water, power and rail companies. Introduce 50% import duty on all Chinese products and a special 50% tax bracket for anyone with assets over 1000,000 living outside the UK for tax avoidance purposes. Also make all alternative fuel vehicles tax exempt, whilst banning the sales of SUV's and 4 x 4's to anyone without a commercial reason to own one. I would also remove vehicle taxation on any vehicle with a design average MPG in excess of 60mpg and legalize and supply drugs at special prices to addicts who registered with a drug rehab program, via the NHS, whilst increasing the sentence for drug dealing to 10 years minimum for having any non prescribed drugs with intent to sell. I would also increase defence spending and introduce legislation to require all over 18 year olds to attend two years compulsory military service or service with the ambulance/fire/police forces.

[X]

Force MPs to accept lower pay - if they keep giving away "power" to Europe why do we give them pay increases? Their pay should be made proportional to their "powers"...

I'm not sure if the treasury is able to do this...

[Les Fox]

If I was Chancellor for a day,
I would stop any family credits going abroad to keep family's in Europe, 28 million of the tax payers money is sent to Poland, and other countries,
I would cut benefit on immigrants, as they don’t deserve it, they should work if they come here, not drain the system,
I would not tax the people on the cars as much, and would tax the manufactures, to force them to produce greener cars; we are way behind with technology,
Bio diesel should be cheaper and not £0.90p per ltr,
Make hydrogen fuel cars like green land with tax free fuel,
Abolish tax on wind turbines and solar panels,
Put tax up on useless high performance cars, and drop tax on goods vehicles, vans, and commercial 4x4’s that work,
Control what council’s official’s wages are, lets have less fat cats,
They are unnecessary, when a wall falls at the side of the road, there are always 3 or 4 to inspect the damage, what for, wasting money,
The people should have more say in what is spent, the government and councils are taking too much control, and forget we are the people that voted them in, so they should do what we say, and not what they say.

[Ron P]

I would explain to the people of Britain exactly how much tax is on a litre / gallon of petrol and diesel.

[Patrick]

Scrap the tv licence - the BBC should be allowed to have advertisements to pay for itself. Why we pay for the rubbish they show is beyond me.

Introduce a citizens rebate ie a percentage of tax rebate off income tax introduced after 10 years of steady NI contributions based on criminal record and social benefits used - ie it will cost people money if they are lazy or have indulged in illegal activity.Those who have been honest and hardworking are rewarded on an incremental scale until they retire, those who have not ,will receive less benefits.

Stop subsidising greek portuguese irish spanish french and italian famers. We should have stopped it years ago.

Abolish stamp duty for ALL first time buyers. Instead introduce a new tax for all these buy to let landlords who have 3 or more properties artificially altering the supply/demand balance and the cost of getting on the ladder, which is jeoparding the economy and society.

Complete review of inheritance tax in order to protect widows and orphans more.

No NHS for people who have been offered treatment for substance abuse eg smokers,alcoholics, drug addicts or the morbidly obese who repeatedly reject or fail to make any attempt at lifestyle change. Introduce a super tax on McDonalds KFC and Burger King and the like to help cover the costs of the problems their rancid kitchens produce

Introduce a super tax to be paid by celebs and fooballers etc., just because they are so annoying.

Stop all public funding for the sham that it is the 2012 olympics and put the lottery money into rebuilding communities.

National service for all school leavers at 16 and all juvenile offenders 16-18.

Abandon ID card scheme. Scrap CCTV schemes.

Put a high tax on internet porn. They've taxed all our other vices.Legalise prostitution and have them pay tax also.

Stop the NHS from wasting so much money on middle management and employ more nurses instead. Also why a nursing degree? Nurses didnt have to have a degree when my mum qualified. Now you have qualified nurses with a degree and standards are dropping. Sorry to say it but its true. Get them trained and into the wards quicker, not racking up 3 years of student debt and hangovers.

Stop lending money to and supplying weapons to dictatorial regimes,then sending our youth to fight them at a huge cost which we have to pay for and then have to pay again for them to be re-equipped with new more advanced weapons/fitted with prosthetic limbs/treatment for PTSD/Gulf War Syndrome, etc etc again at more cost.

Dont sell our gold off cheap ever again. Make a mental note of that .

Sell Gibraltar to Spain.
Let the Americans make an offer on Canada. The Norwegians should be allowed to buy the Shetlands and Orkneys.

Petrol rationing. 750 litres (for example) per license holder per year. After that you pay double and the whole extra balance is tax. Anymore than 9 points on your licence (excluding SP30 type points) your limit is cut by 50%.

Weekend policing of town centres to be paid for by pubs and clubs, not taxpayers. Casualty admissions and arrests due to drink related incidents to be payable by individuals.

Bring back death penalty to save on costs of housing and feeding unrepentant serial killers rapists and paedophiles during long life sentences.

Get rid of the monarchy.

New taxation rules for MPs and MEPs

[mike]

reading the commnets on this page it would seem to me that most of the writers have their heads screwed on and some are almost identical to each .what would i do.execute blair,brown straw,darling, liveingstone for acting like gods. write a letter to the un saying we opt out of theayyslum mess.another to thec asking them to sign of the ecs accounts within 30 days if not we pull out of the eu and blockade europe until they do.do we need to be taxed . we take it for granted that we have to pay tax .tax has only been around for about 100 years . give people on benefits vouchers. that way money woudl not be sent abroad. bring real democracy to councils. once every 2 years the council top brass gets sacked and we vote new ones in. the chief constables the same . why am i bothering im leaving the uk this year anyway.ive had enough of the shisters

[Peter Lloyd]

1. Abolish income tax, abolish the IRS and make sales taxes the main source of Government funding.

2. Fund Social Security pensions and the NHS from PAYE hypothecated insurance schemes. All taxes to be hypothecated (e.g., roads funded from fuel sales tax) and subject to annual financial public audit).

3. Publish an annual, independently audited financial report for central Government. Also for each local Council. Fire Senior Civil Servants, Government Ministers and officials who consistently do not meet their budgets and performance targets.

4. Abolish quangos. Replace absolutely necessary functions (hospitals, regional development authorities) with limited companies with the same management controls as in (3) above.

5.Nationalise major operations where competition is nonsensical, such as railways, electricity generation and distribution, gas, coal, water, motorways. Set them up as non-profit companies subject to annual public audit and monitor their operations closely as in (3) above.

6) Either mandate all pensions to be index-linked or abolish the index-linking of public sector pensions.

7) FIRE THOSE FOUND WITH THEIR FINGERS IN THE PUBLIC TILL. Jail them and cancel their pensions.

8) Abolish Customs and Excise. Existing Sales Tax machinery can provide any needed controls and revenue much more cheaply.

9) Abolish petty tax streams like Stamp Duties, Death Duties, Capital Gains, etc., which employ thousands of Government employees for proportionately little gain. Abolish the Government Departments which employ them.

10) Resign!

[Ken Hall]

I would scrap the ID card scheme, the NHS Database scheme, the Children's database scheme get police policing instead of watching tellies and filling in endless paperwork for target point gathering. I would dismantle the totalitarian state that is being built to ensnare everyone into a total dependency on the state. That should save a good 80 billion in total.

I would scrap all tax credits and increase allowances instead. I would not be snooping into the private finances of the population. That information is private and none of the government's damn business.

I would support my party in the replacement of the Human rights bill with a common sense bill of rights that distinguishes between criminals and the law abiding innocent, meaning that the state could save a fortune in not treating everyone as a criminal/terrorist suspect.

Introduce a FLAT 30% rate of tax for ALL over 18's and under 65 years olds to be reduced over 20 years to 20%.

Cut taxes on small independent businesses and scrap much of their red tape.

Build more clean coal and nuclear power stations to reduce our dependence on foreign energy and invest heavily in hydrogen power for vehicles that can be run from seawater.

Scrap the commitment to Kyoto and the insane idea of reducing carbon emmissions by 60% The earth is now cooling and CO2 has never, ever been a driver of normal and natural climate change. What we are experiencing now is climate change within a very normal level.

Work extensively to reduce and then stop global pollution and all deforestation, including helping to clean up and restore to nature many areas in the world blighted by human's pollution and environmental vandalism. Carbon is NOT a pollutant, Carbon is LIFE. WE are all made up of carbon. There would be NO carbon taxes at all.

Scrap road tax and add 5p onto the litre of fuel instead. This would be far easier to administrate than differing tax bands and already penalises the heaviest polluters by default.

I would force the Bank of England to ensure that all money is backed by value. I would work to outlaw fiat currency and usury based on fractional reserve banking.

I would invest in manufacturing again and make the UK economy grow by having us make things for export again.

I would stop all the congestion creating schemes (designed to combat congestion) including outlawing speed bumps traffic lights every 100 yards, closing roads to through traffic, I would outlaw one way systems that force you to drive 2 miles or more out of your way to get where you want to go.... I would teach children to watch out for traffic.

[JM]

In the budget Darling should reverse the apalling way Brown has treated the 60-65 retired population esp.single people.such a low tax allowance given for 2008-9 and by abolishing the 10% tax and making it 20% it severely affects this vulnerable area of the population. 65 and over are treated with more financial respect.

[Ray]

I would rectify one really big problem with the Benefits system. I've found that I've contributed tens of thousands in NI contributions over the years I've been employed. Now that I am unemployed, what am I entitled to. Sod all. Not even Job Seekers Allowance, because I am deemed to have left my job voluntarily. There is really no incentive to work and pay tax/NI in this country. I'm off to top myself now. It seems to be what the Politicians want.

[David Bridge]

I would tax the rich to the hilt to show them I hadn't been bought!

[Luke Faichney]

Send all financial immigrants back home.

Abolish Tuition Fees

Flat rate tax

Abolish VAT on clothing and books

Increase TAX to vehicles that do less than 45 MPG combined to £4000 plus an initial purchase tax of 15% of the vehicle cost

Nationalise core services such as water, gas, electric and transportation (railways)

cut by 75% income support and jobseekers allowance and other benefits for people who have been out of work for more than 1 year and who have made no effort to really find a job.

Subsidise BT to run fibre optics to every home in the UK

Increase spending on the Royal family 3% over inflation year on year.

Build more nuclear power plants.

Have complete local government audits and find out which local corrupt council officials are wasting money or stealing it. Jail them for a week and cancel their pensions. Run a whistleblower scheme to fight local government corruption.

Ask my friend the PM to bring back public floggings for rapists and murderers.

Offer cash rewards for the conviction of sex pffenders and child abusers and pay a team of butchers to castrate pedophiles.

Bring back the railways and using massive investment in services probably to the cost of 10's billions make the service cheaper and usable, make it a nicer and cheaper alternative to car travel.

Cut MP's pay 60%

ABOLISH second home ownership in rural areas. This ultimately means the locals and younger generation should be able to afford to live where they were brought up.

[franky boy]

I would arrest most of the people writing into this blog and incarcerate them in a mental institution until their uncontrollable rage ceases--ta

[Patrick]

If I were chancellor for a day I would declare January a tax free month.
I would instruct bus and train operators to reduce their ticket prices by 50% or lose their franchises.
I would double the number of traffic police and half the number of speed cameras.
Increase the fine for being more than 10 mph over the speed limit to between £500 and £1000, with 6 points.
Bring back the 10% income tax band.
Reduce duty on petrol and diesel by 75%.
Introduce an automatic 1 year ban for anyone caught using their mobile while driving.
Give MP's a salary of £50,000 and a season ticket for those living within commuting distance of London and £65,000 for those who need to rent a flat in London.
All MP's and ministers would be subject to random audits of their expenses and office finances.

I could go on forever.

[Michael]

I'd abolish all taxes, abolish VAT, then give people £2 billion when they enter England, or if they already live in UK.