The drive for honesty, accountability and
openness in government and business has been central to several
successful Computer Weekly campaigns. It is also a vital force
behind our new campaign for a more transparent, low-cost and
responsive tax system.
Last month Steve Lamey, chief information officer at
the combined Inland Revenue and Customs & Excise, told
government IT executives of his department's successes. He also
revealed the depth and breadth of inefficiencies within the tax
system.
When it learned of his comments, the tax department
reacted as it usually does when faced with bad news: it published
statistics to show all is well. In the face of credible evidence of
business inefficiencies and blunders, officialdom exudes
complacence. The reality is that costs are far higher than
necessary, unpaid tax is estimated to be between £30bn and £50bn a
year, and failures to pay out correct sums have hit thousands of
those who most rely on the system to work well. Stressed payroll
managers in private companies have become exasperated trying to
deal with a stressed and largely unaccountable government tax
department.
We also know that IT is blamed unfairly for
weaknesses in management, oversight and accountability, which are
compounded by a lack of transparency. We do not blame any single
press officer, any one senior executive, or any committee. What
needs countering is a cultural fear of telling it like it is. In
the private sector openness, honesty and accountability are the new
buzzwords. They were central themes at the recent IT Director's
Forum.
Executives such as Mike Branigan, group IT director
of logistics company TDG, and Lesley Hume, group IT director of
engineering consultancy Atkins, revealed how technologists take
part in bids for new business. Potential clients can see for
themselves how IT performs. They see its costs and can compare
performance with other companies.
HM Revenue & Customs has none of these
competitive pressures. It does not go out of business if it fails
to collect from customers, overpays them, or antagonises them. This
makes it all the more important that it responds to pressure for
reform from MPs, stakeholders including many staff, and its
corporate customers.
Lamey will need the stomach for a fight if he is to
bring about a more open, efficient, effective tax system, sweeping
away the centuries-old cobwebs of resistance to change,
introspection and defensiveness. And with its Making the Tax System
Work campaign, Computer Weekly is committed to helping enable
change to produce a tax system that works for each and every
individual and organisation.