There is a balance to be struck. Education and health must be funded. Personally I'd up the pay of teachers and health workers by a substantial lump. But there are also places where spending money isn't reflected in improved services. I think of how on his arrival as Director General of the BBC, Greg Dyke cut a swathe through the outside consultants who cost so much.
Consultants often deliver what is no more than common sense for fees that make no sense at all.
Let's get real about value for money. It seems worth while to spend money on a dignified retirement for poorer pensioners, on projects to keep restless kids off the streets and out of crime, and to help mothers be good parents and at the same time not give up on their work. The usual headlines about tax on alcohol and cigarettes are losing their capacity to frighten us. Somewhere in between comes our concerns about tax on petrol - with the private motorist caught between the government and the oil companies. What's obvious is that tax concessions to people who already have so much they'll hardly notice, will not do as much social good as money spent lower down the earning chain.