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--------------------------------------------------------------------------- IN THIS BULLETIN... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- COMING UP: Muffineers, Smith anniversaries, and assorted bigwigs TAXING TIMES: No taxation without reform! OUT THERE: 6000 mistakes on the Treasury's website! NEWS: Don't shoot politicians, it only encourages them BUT FIRST... Following the 1765 imposition of the Stamp Act, which put taxes on newspapers and legal documents, Benjamin Franklin commented that "Nothing is certain but death and taxes." Hmmmm. The trouble, Ben old mate, is that they come in the wrong order. And unlike taxes, death doesn't get worse after every budget. But Tax Freedom Day seems to be drifting ever-nearer to Christmas [see my Budget item below], with the money squandered on still-unreformed services [see the item on Reform's excellent downthedrain.com website]. As Ronald Reagan used to say, our rulers' mantra seems to be: If it works, tax it. If it still works, regulate it. When it stops working, subsidize it! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- COMING UP: Full list on http://www.adamsmith.org/policy/news/forward.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------------- MUFFINEERS: Freedom-minded policy groups will be tucking into ASI coffee and muffins once again, on 9 May. It's an opportunity to co-ordinate action on current issues and share experience on grasping opportunities and overcoming common problems. Contact steve@adamsmith.org for information. SMITH: Two of Adam Smith anniversaries come up this month. He was appointed Professor at Glasgow on 22 April, 1752. The University must have thought it really lucked out on 26 April 1759, when he produced 'The Theory of Moral Sentiments' -- a veritable blockbuster at the time. But unfortunately for them it was so successful that Smith was promptly hired as personal tutor to the young Duke of Buccleuch! (Amazing what you learn here, isn't it?) MORE BIGWIGS: As usual, a multi-party posse of important persons will be popping in to ASI over the next few weeks, including: - DR TONY WRIGHT, Chairman of the House of Commons Public-Administration Committee, Power Lunch on 30 April - DAVID LIDINGTON MP, Next Generation Group meeting, 6 May - STEPHAN SHAKESPEARE, head of online polling agency YouGov, lunchtime seminar on 8 May - STEPHEN TWIGG, schools minister, gives the Adam Smith Lecture on 'The London Challenge', Tuesday 13 May, sponsored by Provident Financial - KELVIN MCKENZIE, controversial broadcaster, lunch on 15 May - DAVID DAVIS MP, Power Lunch 20 May - STEPHEN NORRIS, London Mayoral hopeful, 22 May For information and invitations, contact Steve on events@adamsmith.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TAXING TIMES as Tax Freedom Day heads for Christmas --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TAX FREEDOM DAY: We'll have to work whole day this year to pay for the extra taxes that the Budget has imposed, so that means you're in bondage to the Chancellor until 2 June. It's even worse if you include the huge extra burden of debt (which you should, because sooner or later, taxpayers are going to pick up the tab for that, too). Make a note in your diary to hold a tax freedom day party, and send e-cards to all your friends. More on: http://www.taxfreedomday.co.uk REFORM! Our Power Lunch yesterday with London Schools Commissioner Prof Tim Brighouse reinforced my view that wholesale reform of education -- not to mention health -- is the only answer. Reform is also the name of a new campaign which believes the same. Check out their amusing new website, which argues that without reform, all these extra taxes are just wasted: http://www.downthedrain.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- OUT THERE: Treasury's 6000 mistakes --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LOST LINKS: Well, www.adamsmith.org might have the odd broken link and web error, but the government's sites are even worse. A study shows that, for example, the Treasury's site is broken in 6000 ways! Read the facts on: http://www.internet-magazine.co.uk/news/view.asp?id=3D3326 and then read us venting our spleen on: http://www.adamsmith.org/cissues/government-administration/home.htm RISK: Why are we so obsessed with risk? From global warming to mobile phones, from crime to child safety, 'safety first' is the watchword. But are we losing out if we're unprepared to take risks? This is the theme of a conference organised by spiked and the Royal Institution, in association with Tech Central Station Europe, in London on Friday 9 May. Find it on: http://www.spiked-online.com/panicattack/default.stm PRIVATIZATION WORKS: It'll be 33 smooth, newly-paved kilometers from Somanga to Matandu along Tanzania=B9s Privatization Highway. The new road is being paid for out of tax revenues made possible by privatization, and it's the first major project to be completely self-financed. We advise Tanzania on privatization, so it's nice to see it paying off for them. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- WALLPAPER AND WORDPLAY: See the front page of http://www.adamsmith.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do you ever make it down to the bottom of the front page of our website? Might be worth a look if you're interested in word games. We've a series of little puzzles that test your knowledge of what goes on in the Westminster village. (Unlike most villages, this one is full of nothing but idiots.) And you can even download Adam Smith screensavers and wallpaper. http://www.adamsmith.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------- RECENT EVENTS: For more, see http://www.adamsmith.org/policy/news/home.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------------- DON'T SHOOT POLITICIANS: Just back from Africa, the co-author of our Around the World in 80 Ideas project, Keith Boyfield, told the Next Generation Group that the way to conserve endangered species like rhino or elephant was to charge rich people to shoot them. Then they become worth something, and are looked after, instead of being regarded by the locals as pests. Looks like my policy of shooting politicians on sight isn't going to have the intended results. Anyway, read the talk on: http://www.adamsmith.org/cissues/government-administration/80ideastalk.htm and find out more about the 80 Ideas project on http://80ideas.net --------------------------------------------------------------------------- GROAN-INDUCING NEWS from the pages of http://www.ePolitix.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Despite ministerial calls for a "mixed economy" in healthcare provision, the use of private sector hospitals by the NHS barely increased last year. - A Commons committee says that while the government's Energy White Paper is green enough, it has a thick yellow streak running right through it. =A0 - The government's latest school league tables have been published, four months late. Head teachers said the tables were "statistical nonsense". - The proportion of young participants in the New Deal who go on to find sustained jobs fell from 47 per cent in 1998 to only 36 per cent in 2002. =A0 - This year's tax changes have made the average family over 500 pounds a year worse off, shadow chancellor Michael Howard has warned. - The number of people paying for private hospital treatment has tripled since Labour came to power. - The Commons public accounts committee ways that taxpayers lost 100m through fraud and abuse in the government's 'naive' adult learning scheme. - The public accounts committee has attacked the MoD over a bungled 920-million-pound refit of nuclear submarines. - The PAC said tens of thousands of pensioners were living in poverty because it was too difficult for them to understand and apply for benefits. - Pensions Tsar Adair Turner has predicted that many people will have to work until they are 70 in order to prevent a savings crisis. e ---- Dr Eamonn Butler Adam Smith Institute, 23 Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3BL, UK E-mail butler@adamsmith.org - Visit us online at www.adamsmith.org Tel +44 (0)20 7222 4995 - Fax +44 (0)20 7222 7544 To unsubscribe, visit www.adamsmith.org/lists.htm
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