Britain’s macho Prime Minister is angry. He just hates the fact that some people conceal their money in tax havens, and on April 2 he will go ginning for them with all the fire power he can muster from the G20 countries.

Gordon Brown is determined to “make sure tax secrecy is a thing of the past”. He denounces tax dodgers who deprive the public purse of billions of pounds every year. If he gets his way, tax havens will be forced to open up their books – subject to international scrutiny.

This, from a man who administered policies that lose Britain fortunes that dwarf anything that the tax dodgers can keep out of the hands of the taxman.

Deadweight Losses

Economists call the causes of losses to the public purse “deadweight”. They know that certain taxes damage people’s incentives to work, save and invest. As Britain’s new Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1997, Brown had that harsh fact of life explained to him in forensic detail.

So what did he do? No transparency from Gordon Brown! He persisted with constructing a nightmare labyrinth of stealth taxes that systematically deprived the exchequer – and everyone else – of fabulous wealth.

I have calculated the losses. Over Brown’s 10 years at the Treasury, his policies lost Britain a sum equal to one whole year’s income. During that decade, he assiduously refused to open his books to scrutiny.

Recently, opposition Tory leader David Cameron was forced by the speaker to retract his accusation that Brown was a “phoney”. I am not bound by Parliamentary conventions.

Gordon Brown is a phoney.

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