Liberal Democrat Impracticality

As it is Liberal Democrat Conference week, why not another posting on my favourite political party?

This time I am pondering why the Liberal Democrats never seem to consider administrative costs in their policies.

One example of this would be the Caribbean flights issue. Dawn Butler MP is lobbying for the Jamaican government line, which is to reband Jamaica and other West Indian islands alongside Washington so that the cost of travel remains. The Lib Dem line is to introduce a per plane/ per flight tax that would ironically be more expensive for people going to the Caribbean, but also sounds a lot more complicated to administer.

Another would be the proposed local income tax to replace Council Tax. This has been criticised on various grounds, including hitting some poorer people very hard, but it would also be very difficult to administer. Would you be taxed where you lived or where you worked? On your total income or just your salary? In any case, it would be much easier to evade and therefore the administration costs would be far greater.

One explanation of this would be that the Liberal Democrats have always been a party of opposition and therefore they just don’t think about the practicalities. However, these days they have a strong local government base. Surely not all these Lib Dem councillors can be as divorced from their local authorities as the ones in Brent are?

Can anyone think of an explanation?