Introduction
In these tough economic times, the government needs to reprioritise its spending programs to ensure that it directs the economy back to the path of growth. Various measures need to betaken to achieve this objective, and I intend to make some several proposals that I will carry out to achieve this.
The police force plays an essential role of preserving social harmony in this country. The social stability that is enjoyed in all parts of the United Kingdom is to a large extent as a result of their efforts in maintaining law and order. I commend the police force for their selfless efforts which more often than not exceeds their call to duty. However, it has become very expensive to run police departments all over the country due to the tough economic times that we are facing. This is further made worse by the cost of running police cars because the models of choice for most police departments are fuel guzzlers such as Volvo 2.4 petrol and Subaru which run on petrol. It is my proposition that we sell those cars to the public and replace them with cars that use diesel engines which consume cheaper and less fuel. I believe this action will be in the interest of the public since it will free more resources that can be used to fund more important undertakings such as education and the provision of quality health care to all.
Police officers should be encouraged to walk to their places of work instead of driving as a cost cutting measure on government spending. If more policemen support this initiative, the costs that the government incurs to buy, service and fuel cars will reduce substantially and free funds which can be channelled to other socially useful endeavours. It is also a method of reducing the budget deficit which is being experienced by many police departments.
Reduction of military manoeuvres
The military is undoubtedly one of the most critical institutions of our society in these times of peril and uncertainties posed by the existence of faceless and stateless aggression in the form of terrorism. It is imperative that our nation’s military always remain in a state of preparedness so that they will never be caught unawares should they ever be called to the duty of the defence of this nation at a short notice. However, we should at the same time put limits in the measures that we take to prepare ourselves for the defence of this nation. We should take care lest we fall into the trap of obsessive militarism and forget to give more proper attention to other issues that face us as a nation. The military manoeuvres undertaken by various arms of our armed forces do not correspond to our available resources and the level of threat of aggression. I will therefore institute measures to reduce military manoeuvres to a level which corresponds to the threat of military aggression that we face while at the same time ensuring that the level of our military preparedness is not compromised. I will limit military manoeuvres to half of their current level. This course of action will reduce the resources spend on the military by a substantial amount, and we will be able to channel those freed funds to finance other social programs which will have immediate positive impact of the lives of citizens of this nation.
Increase of import tax
Our nation is a player in the global commercial world, and we participate by importing products from other nations for trading and consumption within our borders. In the same breadth, our nation’s produce is also traded and consumed in other nations when we export. However, care has to be taken to ensure that imports to our country do not rise to a level at which they become harmful to the commercial interests of our local businesspeople. There is need for regulation of imports flowing into the country to ensure that we mitigate on any harmful effects that they may have on the competitiveness of local products. This can be done in two ways; imposing duty on imports into the country to discourage and reduce the level of imports and giving subsidies to exporters to improve the competitiveness of their products in the international markets. In order to protect our local producers from the unfair competition they get from cheaper imported products and increase the export of products from our country, I propose to set up a new tax for goods that will be imported into this country. A tax on imports of 10% will be sufficient to reduce the level of imports to a level where local producers do not feel threatened by the flooding of cheaper products from other foreign markets, and they will be able to compete with these importers on a level playing ground. However, alcohols and fruits will not be subjected to this 10% tax. This measure will reduce local reliance on imports and will go a long way in improving the fortunes of local businesses whose future is currently being threatened by the increased level of imports. The measure will also increase the competitiveness of the exports from the United Kingdom and our country will be able to make more gains from export earnings.
Death penalty for serial killers and change in correctional facilities
Serial killers have for a long time been a sore which has been inflicting untold pain to the citizens of this nation individually and communities. The pain that victims of the actions of serial killers undergo is untold. Such heinous actions should not go unpunished, and all effort should be committed to bring the perpetrators of this type of injustice to feel the full force of the law. I strongly believe that the death penalty for serial killers should be reinstated. As the saying goes, those who live by the sword will die by the sword, the most appropriate way of delivering justice to those who spent their time inflicting pain on our society by carrying out their murderous actions should be through the death penalty. This is not only a way of punishing them for their actions, but also of delivering a feeling to the families of victims of serial killers that justice has been served. It is not fair at all to lock up such individuals at government penal institutions at a cost to the taxpayers, among them families of victims. The death penalty to serial killers will also be a way of ensuring that the cost of maintaining government run correctional institutions is maintained at a low level by reducing the number of inmates by instituting the death penalty for serial killers.
The cost of running correctional institutions is rising with each year. We thus need to develop means of reducing the cost to tax payers by seeking measures which will reduce this cost. The United Kingdom spends a tidy sum just to keep inmates behind bars. To effectively deal with this problem, I will institute measures that will make it essential for inmates who are spending more than five years in jail to work for their upkeep. Those who are in the process of reformation will be allowed to work in supervised projects such as road works and community service. This will enable them to earn amounts which will be used to meet the cost of their upkeep. The money in excess of what they spend for their upkeep will be reimbursed to them at the time when they leave prison. This process will improve the financial position of correctional institutions which will ease the pressure to the central and local governments to fund them and will enable the application of funds to more socially important projects such as education.
Increase in the rate of tax for high income earners
The principle of tax equity should be applicable to all the citizens of this nation. This principle seeks to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor and involves taxing high income earners at a rate higher than low income earners. To improve the funds available to the government for funding of government social institutions, I will institute an increase of 2% in the income tax rate for individual who earn £ 60 000 or more per annum. This move will allow for a 15% increase in working credit and child tax credit for families whose earnings do not exceed £18,000 per annum per couple with a minimum of one dependant less than 16 years of age. This will be a way of creating equity in taxation and trying to redistribute wealth.
Conclusion
The funds that my party will save through the measures I have outlined will be utilised in the following manner; 20% of the funds will be used in the improvement of the provision of healthcare services, another 20% will be used to increase the working credit for families with low incomes, 30% will be utilised to subsidise the cost of fuel to achieve lower cost of fuel and the last 30% will be used in improving the united kingdom department. I believe that the above measures will enable us to deal effectively with the financial difficulties that we are currently facing. They will assist us to increase the revenues to the government and to the economy as a whole and reconsider our priorities. Through these measures, I believe that we can weather the effects of the economic crisis successfully and regain our path of economic progress.
References
Nell, Edward J. and Forstater, Mathew. Reinventing functional finance: transformational growth and full employment, Edward Elgar Publishing: Northampton, 2003. Print.
Jeffrey D. Sachs. The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time, Penguin Books: London, 2005. Print.
Debraj Ray. Development Economics, Princeton University Press: Princeton, 1998. Print.
Stiglitz, Joseph E. Economics of the Public Sector, 3rd ed. Norton: New York, 2000. Print.
Smith, Charles and Rees, Gareth. Economic Development, 2nd ed. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1998. Print.
