The Private Government of Public Money [antikvár]

IntroductionNo Government has so far yet been prepared to display to Parliament or to the public the actual processes bywhich it reaches decisions in this field____Sir Samuel Goldman, Second Permanent Secretary of the Treasury, Public Sector, 23 March ig 71'Money talks. It speaks to the purposes of men and nations. Goverimient spending decisions not only affect the public's standard of living but also reflect the standards by which public men live.Our first aim is to describe the expenditure process as it actually operates in British central government. British government is about many things, but if anything, it is about the process of allocating up to half the nation's resources through public spending. During 1972/3, British public expenditures were estimated at approximately L28,000 million, or over L500 per year for every man, woman, and child on the island. To help pay the bill, Britons paid about one-fifth of their total personal income into the income tax and national insurance coffers; no one can be sure how much they paid through indirect taxation. Surely little the State does, short of war, is more important than constantly using so much of the nation's work and wealth. Few other governmental activities so consistently affect the everyday life of citizens.Our second aim is to use the expenditure process as a spotlight for illuminating the characteristic practices of British central government. Not all public policy resolves into questions of money and not all questions of money elucidate the political process.I. H.C. 549 (1970-1), para. 116. All citations in our text use the official title of the witness at the time of his testimony.