Hairy Poppins Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 It seems four government departments have managed to overspend by a combined £47m - but Dr. Allinson says it's ok because they received an extra £48m in income tax and didn't spend £29m they were planning to. My first thoughts are this will just be nodded through with no questions asked - although I feel each Department should have to provide a breakdown to the nearest penny of their overspend. Also that money would have been better put into the reserves, or even staying in the pockets of workers. I've seen some MHKs on social media try to say there's no way they could have expected wage demand of 2%... but it was known at the time the budget was prepared that inflation was running at 7.4% locally (Decmeber 2022 figure), did they just magically expect it to have gone down? https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/govt-wont-be-drawing-from-reserves-to-cover-overspend-says-treasury-minister/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moghrey Mie Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 OK We need those 'vital frontline services'. So how about cutting some of the make-believe jobs that are not needed. If these departments can go £47 million over budget they should be scrutinised over their priorities and spending. I thought Julie Edge prided herself in being able to budget. That's what she used to say when she was first elected. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manx Bean Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 To me it shows two things to be true. Government departments along with Treasury are incapable of forecasting their expenditure beyond more than a finger in the air - all the more frightening when it is a poorly kept secret that departments always try to over-egg their needs anyway - and secondly, senior management within the Civil Service and their respective Ministers and political members are shamelessly incompetent. No matter how the Treasury Minister is trying to mitigate the seriousness, the bottom line is that it is an utter shit show. 8 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amadeus Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 12 minutes ago, Moghrey Mie said: OK We need those 'vital frontline services'. So how about cutting some of the make-believe jobs that are not needed. If these departments can go £47 million over budget they should be scrutinised over their priorities and spending. I thought Julie Edge prided herself in being able to budget. That's what she used to say when she was first elected. I think it’s clear the civil service side of government has no desire to make savings or reduce its size, as we have seen with even more hires over recent years. Sadly the politicians in charge lack the willpower or competence to do anything about it. Hardly surprising on an island where most of your voters either work for the government or are indirectly involved. Turkeys Christmas etc. 13 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moghrey Mie Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 1 minute ago, Amadeus said: I think it’s clear the civil service side of government has no desire to make savings or reduce its size, as we have seen with even more hires over recent years. Sadly the politicians in charge lack the willpower or competence to do anything about it. Hardly surprising on an island where most of your voters either work for the government or are indirectly involved. Turkeys Christmas etc. This is not just buying too many paperclips. It is serious over-spending. And baling them out doesn't encourage departments to do better next year. 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amadeus Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Just now, Moghrey Mie said: This is not just buying too many paperclips. It is serious over-spending. And baling them out doesn't encourage departments to do better next year. True but bailing out they will because they don’t know what else to do and don’t want to upset the people really running the place. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Onchan Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 The Minister stated that the shortfall would or has been met by "Additional income tax revenue". Really? Sounds to me as if we might be due a big VAT refund if they don't need to dip into reserves for such a large amount. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moghrey Mie Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 (edited) 2 minutes ago, Andy Onchan said: The Minister stated that the shortfall would or has been met by "Additional income tax revenue". Really? Sounds to me as if we might be due a big VAT refund if they don't need to dip into reserves for such a large amount. Isn't it from people being dragged into paying income tax because the thresholds are so low? £14,500 for a single person. Edited January 23 by Moghrey Mie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hmmmm Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Just now, Amadeus said: True but bailing out they will because they don’t know what else to do and don’t want to upset the people really running the place. They should provide a detailed breakdown of the overspends. There seems a lack of discipline with these departments. People are paid good wages to monitor finances and run the departments and they are clearly failing. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Onchan Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 1 minute ago, Moghrey Mie said: Isn't it from people being dragged into paying income tax because the thresholds are so low? If it is then there must be an awful lot of people caught in that net. £47 million is not a small amount by any standards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Non-Believer Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 (edited) Is it "income tax" or is it revenue from the increased taxes burden across the board though? Either way, there is no encouragement to stop these clowns burning through every penny that they are given and more though. Just because we have some windfall receipts does not excuse the fiscal irresponsibility, if not disregard, that these people are showing in their desire to build empires and employ as many mates and underlings as possible. This money came out of the pockets of already hard-pressed taxpayers. It's high time that there was a proper inquiry and some examples made of. Edited January 23 by Non-Believer Extra bit 3 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asitis Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 I begrudge paying income tax to an administration that is fiscally irresponsible. If we saw massively improved services for the amounts of money we pay Government, then all would be well, but we don't ! Front line services are at best poor. If we ran our household like this we'd be homeless ! Allinson clearly feels it is okay to sit and read his prepared diatribe and move on. 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheldon Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Paraphrasing only slightly: "Yeah, we've already spent it, but if you approve it retrospectively then we'll actually be UNDER budget. Aren't we wonderful!" Oh, to live in their world... 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Non-Believer Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Stu Peters will be along shortly to say that everything is under control and it's all justified, we can sleep easy. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twitch Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 18 minutes ago, Non-Believer said: Stu Peters will be along shortly to say that everything is under control and it's all justified, we can sleep easy. ...and we will obviously need more civil servants to ensure that this never happens again.. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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