tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22723067.post7129048927989419755..comments2008-07-31T21:25:38.743+01:00John Pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12989707573947742653jp@benefitfraud.org.ukBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22723067.post-65952686395860766722008-07-31T21:25:00.000+01:002008-07-31T21:25:00.000+01:00Thank you for the very interesting and detailed comment. Confirms my view that ministers have no idea about actually making things work.<BR/><BR/>As I also run a benefit fraud blog (see link on top right of article page), I'm particularly interested in the comment about a fraudster's paradise.<BR/><BR/>Do you feel like expanding on any of this, here or privately? You can do so through jpswebmail at yahoo.co.ukJohn Pagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12989707573947742653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22723067.post-17742384226369080452008-07-31T17:45:00.000+01:002008-07-31T17:45:00.000+01:00"The real victims of this gargantuan Whitehall mess are millions of hard-up families."<BR/><BR/>The real victims are most definitely the taxpayers - this system has been nothing but a sham since it was implemented. Minsters blame faulty software. The truth is they decided on the details of the scheme far too late, they did not know how to implement a fundamental change of moving (benefit) claimants (i.e. net cash recipients) into a tax collector (i.e. cash collection) regime. At the same time the "customer base" for payments was expanded - with families earning up to £60K entitled to varying degrees of tax credit, the new processes and procedures were complex and very detailed, and to cap it all on implementation the "customers" had to notify the Inland Revenue of all but the smallest change in their income (as I recall the change threshold was about £25). The system was designed to fail from the outset.<BR/>But the Chancellor was determined to force this Socialist cash redistribution system through despite the fact that the cost of collecting and then redistributing the cash will in many cases far outweigh the alleged benefit.<BR/>The whole thing has also been a fraudster's paradise, and at the end of the day it is the honest hard working taxpayer who has to fund this serial incompetence by the Treasury.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com