Fleeced!

by David Craig, Matthew Elliot

Over the past decade some £3 trillion - equivalent to £50,000 for every person in Britain - has been taken from us by the ruling elites. Half was wasted in a splurge of poorly-managed public spending in the 'boom', while the other half evaporated in the 'bust' - siphoned off by city bonuses, vaporised by a collapse in pension savings and extorted to bail out the banking sector. In their explosive new book, David Craig and Matthew Elliott trace where the money has gone and who has become richer as a result. They name and shame the 'guilty': the incompetent bureaucrats that fail to deliver the services the taxpayer deserves; the multitude of ineffective regulators and watchdogs; the politicians that have betrayed our democracy and enriched themselves; and the self-serving and arrogant city bankers. Moreover, they calculate the enormous debt that awaits the British taxpayer as a result of our rulers' avarice and economic mismanagement. Fleeced! charts the greatest impoverishment and tax swindle of the public in British history.

Genres: Politics, Economics

305 pages, Paperback

First published September 14, 2009

Reviews

[William Weir · Rating 2 out of 5]

Written in 2009, it has dated a little at the time of writing but depressingly many of the observations are still relevant. The suggested remedies, however, are tainted by the dogma of the Taxpayers Alliance which feel rather old.

[Jane Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having read, and been very impressed by, David Craig's Plundering the Public Sector, I wondered, a little way into this, why Fleeced wasn't of the same quality. Then I realised that the co-author was Matthew Elliott, of the Taxpayers' Alliance. Perhaps this accounts for some of the biasses here. The TPA is not noted for its objectivity and transparency. In this book, there is a chunk about local councillors which is just plain wrong, and that made me concerned about how much else was inaccurate. The recommendations are also typically daft.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

outrageous and compelling