Sir, – I find it depressing when candidates pledge to “increase spending” across various public services as part of their election promises, in turn saying they will not cut taxes.
Spending increases and tax cuts are not two sides of a see-saw. Both could be achieved if appropriate rationalisation and efficiencies were introduced into current spending on the public sector which eats up over a third of the total tax take. Nobody can say that we have a sleek and well-oiled public sector or social welfare system, and it is soul destroying to see boasts of yet more billions more being spent here and there and more to come. In the meantime, the stories of obscene mismanagement and waste (the national children’s hospital, the Leinster House printer) continue to appear, and our personal experiences of health, education and public safety services never seem to get any better.
Any politician calling to my door who believes that tax cuts and an improvement in services are possible, if funded by a swingeing rationalisation of the antiquated, inefficient and top-heavy public sector, will have my vote. – Yours, etc,
GERARD REYNOLDS,
:fill(white):background_color(white)/static.themebuilder.aws.arc.pub/irishtimes/1647534191476.png)
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 16.