“The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest amount of feathers with the least possible amount of hissing.” So said Jean-Baptiste Colbert, 17th-century Frenchman who served as finance minister to Louis XIV.
It strikes me that the same could apply at the moment in UK PLC. The public finances are stuffed, so as a nation we are having a bit of a “bun fight” over scarce resources. Two topics currently hotly debated highlight this: tax avoidance and welfare payment/benefit cheats.
Aggressive tax avoidance and people playing the benefits system means less resource and/or more taxes all round.
Of course it is not just the public who have weighed into this debate. Politicians have also talked about the morality of paying a “fair share” of tax.
So what does this mean for us? It would appear that through excellent work by a number of key industry figures, we have at last got through to the Government that we are a serious industry, a big net contributor to UK PLC and a real source of job creation, particularly for the under 25s.
Dangers persist however. The Budget should be regarded as the winning of a significant battle as opposed to the war. A recent Sunday Times poll showed a majority against the Chancellor’s action on duty. The most likely explanation is that respondents saw the move on duty, not as a vital and well deserved boost for an important industry and community service, but as more taxes for them.
The health lobby won’t go away either. The cost of our industry to the NHS is in excess of £5bn per annum — or so they claim. But the real issue for the NHS is an ageing population and expensive medical treatments.
So what is needed is not for the health lobby, and politicians to look for the next goose to pluck — fizzy drinks, fast food, chocolate, or whatever — but for a proper debate about what we want from our health service and how to fund it.
While banks have been the main lightning conductor for the fallout from the financial crisis, business in general, has not escaped unscathed.
However, there can be no sustained recovery without growing successful businesses. So we must keep arguing our corner and “hissing” to remind everyone that our industry is responsible, constantly investing and creating new jobs and that pubs are not just good for the economy, but for the community — and by the way we pay more than our fair share of taxes.
The “bun fight” continues, but we have been plucked enough!
James Baer is managing director of Amber Taverns