The Peoples' Budget

Introduction

... Reclaiming Democracy from the Sphere of Finance ...
... Public Control Over Tax-and-Spend ...
... Bringing Public Interest to Public Finances ...

The objective of The Peoples' Budget project is to develop open access Internet applications for public scrutiny, maintenance and control of organisational finances, with a focus on one specific and particularly exciting application: to present a comprehensive and coherent view of government income, expenditure, assets and liabilities and allow the user to envisage their own alternative taxation and spending plans. This application will demonstrate The Peoples' Budget as an average of all users' alternative taxation and spending plans. Given sufficient security and number of participants, The Peoples' Budget may one day be able to lay claim as more representative of the wishes of the people than the government's own. [Read More]

Raison D'Etre

The Need for Public Interest at The Heart of Financial Government

Governments are heavily influenced by business. Business funds election campaigns. Via the media, business determines business-friendly election results. Business-friendly parties are given serious coverage. Business-unfriendly parties are given minimal coverage or denied it altogether. The more business-friendly a party, the more favourable its coverage.

Financial policies unpopular with business - e.g. those that mean spending on public services, redistributing wealth from richer to poorer, modest increases to the money supply - are difficult and at times impossible for 'democratically-elected' governments to implement effectively.

Financial policies popular with business - i.e. spending on arms, public-private partnerships and private-sector contracts, privatisation - are encouraged and at times demanded if the 'democratically-elected' government wishes to remain in office.

The devolution of the power to tax-and-spend from Westminster government to Scottish parliament brings control over financial policy very slightly close to the public whom it so directly affects, and is welcome. But as this only moves the power from one group of elected politicians to another, the larger problem of the undemocratic influence of big-business interests over financial policy remains.

As a regular read of Private Eye's Rotten Boroughs section demonstrates, many Regional Councils suffer from extensive financial mismanagement and corruption too.

Whether at the level of National or Local Government, it is well-nigh impossible for concerned citizens to exercise due diligence over the financial conduct of their elected representatives in any significant detail. Taxation and spending plans are announced only in very broad terms and detailed financial accounts are difficult if not impossible to come by.

Many facts are kept secret and reasons of 'national security' and 'commercial confidentiality' are cited. But the actual negative effects on the public - not only of this country but also of other countries - of negligent, incompetent and corrupt financial administration are arguably much greater than the perceived risks of national insecurity and exposure of commercial secrets. Consider the loss-of-life, injury, and disruption due to mismanaged train privatisation, underfunded health services, education and counselling services, and actual use of guns, bombs and military equipment paid for by taxpayers.

If the public interest cannot be brought to the heart of government politicians, an alternative may be to bring public interest to government finances.

This is a purpose of The Peoples' Budget.

The Need for Open-Access Finances at The Heart of Democratic Movements

This is a purpose of The Peoples' Budget. [Under Construction]

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