PAC Fiddles While Public Money Burns

This week saw the publication of two reports that highlight the woeful set of priorities that govern the activities of the Public Accounts Committee and the media bandwagon that follows it. 

The first was the repeat of PAC's outrage over Google's international tax affairs. It seems we really are expected to believe that (1) these MPs are unaware of the rules governing where a company is 'permanently established' under OECD/UN Conventions and other tax treaties; (2) that the amount of additional tax that Google might have otherwise paid on about £3bn a year of revenue during 2006-2011 would have saved the UK economy; and (3) the UK does not benefit from the application of these rules to its own firms in other jurisdictions.

The second report came in the form of the lastest Bumper Book of Government Waste (itself hardly 'new'), which highlights yet again the £120bn that the public sector burnt last year for absolutely no benefit whatsoever.

With priorities like these, we should add PAC's own budget to the bonfire.