The comment by Mr. Box makes me laugh. He sounds quite articulate and is whinging about having to fill out a 30 page form to continue to receive state handouts, funded by people like me, who just pay loads of tax.

He reckons the wasted cash is down to administration, I suspect he ought to stop claiming and get another job, that would stop the waste.

Mark, Newport Pagnell, England

HMRC's "tax credit" system for people with children is a misnomer. Unlike the system it replaced it does not involve credit against income tax . Don't forget that at the time of the system switchover, there was a year without any child-related deductions or payouts at all. That year, parents were fully taxed like the childless without giving any respect to the additional headcount to be fed. This must have improved the Treasury's cash flow massively. The present system is therefore not really a prepayment as critics have it, but a deferred repayment of taxes that never should have been collected, combined with redistribution to those on very low incomes. The talk about overpayments is smoke and mirrors. Year for year people whose family income rises get ripped off because HMRC in effect calculates tax deductions due on income in year X based on income in year X+1. Better return to a per-child personal allowance as a true credit against tax, and help the poor in a more honest way.

K Becher, London,

I wonder whether any chancellor / prime minister will ever have the guts to actually say that the benefits and assistance system is not fit for purpose. Tax credits, Child benefit, Sure start grants and other benefits require the constant issuing and reviewing of a new form for each application, indeed repeating the same questions ad nauseam. One form, one review, one outcome; how much would that save the country?

Will, Cambs,

How is it that every time a Labour cabinet minister is interveiwed in the media regarding G Brown's suitability for prime minister the answer,never challenged, is that he is the best chancellor this country has ever had! These people must be living on another planet. On his abysmal record Brown must surely be the worst, and does not even merit being considered for the next step up.

Tony, Fleet,

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THE MAN! !
He did tell school children during a television interview that his worst subject was MATHS. That statement from a man in charge of the nation- perhaps he could get some usefull tips from OAP's or means tested people who have to account for every penny before getting any help.

alan, Ca, Wales

I'm glad that people 'having their say' , are exposing the con. This system traps so many people in poverty that it is absolutely abhorrent...........just like the man who introduced it. Enforced part-time workers ie: under 30 hrs cannot claim anything at all but can be on the minimum wage leaving them very badly off indeed. This Chancellor has delighted in making the poor even poorer. He is very well aware of all the holes in the safety net and he doesn't give a damn. Socialist this Government are not. The low paid have been a target of one punishing initiative after another. Shame on you Brown...........a general election NOW please and we'll tell you what we think of your tax credits!

judy, Liverpool, england

Can anyone name one good thing this Chancellor has done that has actually worked - apart from Bank of England independence and since he can select the committee members how independent is it really I wonder.

Interest rates should have risen sharply two years ago.

Richard, Northumberland,

What about the cost of all the households who will not claim it because of all the invasive, unnecessary, laborious form filling that is involved in the application? One cost more than outweighs the other. The Government are quids in.
As for the comment from Paul......what do you want Paul, common sense and honesty? This man Brown knows EXACTLY what he has done with tax credits. He is a most dishonest man. Write to your MP asking for a General Election and let's see how these sneakthieves do.

judy, Liverpool, england

The Child Tax Credit scheme is the 'brainchild' (sic) of the Chancellor and it has proved, just like the CSA and other politically inspired ideas associated with taxation, means-testing and form-filling, to be just another madcap scheme that is wide open to abuse and fraud on a grand scale. This scheme is not economic sense and ability but economic incompetence.

The only way to help those in work and those on low incomes is to raise the personal allowance to at least £10,000 a year and to increase the tax take from those paid more than £50,000 per annum, that being twice the 'average' wage in Britain. Form-filling and means-testing, all designed to increase the level of bureaucracy and centralized control whilst confusing those who have to complete them, are nothing more than nightmare tactics to give the impression of doing something for the lowest two quintiles in our society whilst, in effect, robbing them even more.

Kenneth Armitage, Suffolk, England

tax credits are a joke.
lots of places now do not offer full time employment only 16 20 and 25 hours if you havent any children where is the help then.
you have to be over 25 and do 30 hours.i do 27 hours at the moment when my son leaves school next year i wont be able to claim working tax and my employer wont give extra hours.
i can see why people dont want to work, claim sick etc. there is no incentive for us. we are just screwed

j d, wolveerhampton, uk

Tax credits system, a wash out. I was working 3 jobs to make up for money taken from me by tax credits in my case i didnt owe back as i told them my little boy wasnt in child care anymore 2 days after he left child care they took what they said i owed them and left me with a mortgage all bills and kids to feed with £60 a week. Now i believe i was targeted for money which i should never have had taken away from me because of others misguided fraudulent claims.

jane, ipswich, uk

I rang tax credits to advise that my son was staying on for further education because this would apparently make a difference to my tax credits; it was plain that the man on the other end simply did not understand the system. It's too complicated for the poor clerks who have to operate it, let alone the customers.

The system is designed to monitor and harrass the 12 million plus who are living on or below the government's designated poverty level, to ensure that no-one gets a few pence more than they are 'entitled' to - meanwhile, the tax avoidance industry's customers wallow in their billions.

Chris, Sheffield,

How many policticians would it buy? Actually in fact how many could we get rid of with this sort of funding. I know of donkeys who would work with a higher level of competance, more honestly and cost a whole lot less. Apologies to all donkeys here, I know how hard you work and to be honest I woyuld see you guys sat in the commons braying at each other than these over priced, over indulged political idiots we have at the moment. I would also have someone to vote for.

Stefan, Sheffield, UK

The Child Tax Credit scheme is the 'brainchild' (sic) of the Chancellor and it has proved, just like the CSA and other politically inspired ideas associated with taxation, means-testing and form-filling, to be just another madcap scheme that is wide open to abuse and fraud on a grand scale. This scheme is not economic sense and ability but economic incompetence.

The only way to help those in work and those on low incomes is to raise the personal allowance to at least £10,000 a year and to increase the tax take from those paid more than £50,000 per annum, that being twice the 'average' wage in Britain. Form-filling and means-testing, all designed to increase the level of bureaucracy and centralized control whilst confusing those who have to complete them, are nothing more than nightmare tactics to give the impression of doing something for the lowest two quintiles in our society whilst, in effect, robbing them even more.

Kenneth Armitage, Suffolk, England

The Child Tax Credit scheme is the 'brainchild' (sic) of the Chancellor and it has proved, just like the CSA and other politically inspired ideas associated with taxation, means-testing and form-filling, to be just another madcap scheme that is wide open to abuse and fraud on a grand scale. This scheme is not economic sense and ability but economic incompetence. The only way to help those in work and those on low incomes is to raise the personal allowance to at least £10,000 a year and to increase the tax take from those paid more than £50,000 per annum, that being twice the 'average' wage in Britain. Form-filling and means-testing, all designed to increase the level of bureaucracy and centralized control whilst confusing those who have to complete them, are nothing more than nightmare tactics to give the impression of doing something for the lowest two quintiles in our society whilst, in effect, robbing them even more.

Kenneth Armitage, Suffolk, England

PROVES THAT THE TAX SYSTEM IN THE UK needs an
overall and bringing into the 21st century ,the more
complicated it becomes the more fraud .

george william taylor, hull, uk

Dear Editor,

When Britain's Army and Navy have had to endure savage cuts, whilst fighting wars abroad that the Chancellor voted for, i find it absolutely dsigusting that so much money has been wasted and yet Regiments are having to beg for equipment as there are no spares or new kit. How can that man call himself a Prime Minister in waiting? He has absolutely no right to do so.

Yours faithfully.

Mr. R. Elliot

Roger Elliot, Bath,

So as usual, Labour uses our tax money to buy future votes. BTW, you mistitled the "It costs" section. It should have been in the previous section under -"It could buy a tax rebate of ..."

To Tim of Billingham, if you can find a lawyer to take the cae, count me in. With any real justice, we'd be able to deduct the amount from the collective pension fund of all the left-wing MP's that voted for this waste of our money in the first place.

KR, Stockport,

One of the major flaws of the tax credit system is that it is incomprehensible to most people. There is no way of knowing exactly what one is entitled to. Therefore if the tax office staff have miscalculated your entitlement either in your favour or against, there is no way of knowing it. It should be more obvious. Not many people would genuinely wish to claim fraudulently, myself included, however I have received letters saying I have been overpaid, even though I have kept the tax office informed of every single change in circumstances. I just have to take their word for it. Even now I do not know how my claim is calculated. I seemed to get more when I earned more and much less after changing to a lower paid job when I moved home and had to leave my previous job.

Frances Valente, Lerwick, Shetland

I used to have a friend who was an ardent Socialist and had a doctorate in economics. I always found his theories on economics incomprehensible, illogical and unworkable. I now realise that he thought in precisely the same manner as Gordon Brown. He was totally incapable of handdling his own family budget. And I thought it had to be me who was wrong!! Needless to say he is no longer a friend!!

Richard, Alicante, Spain

Why has this happened? and how can he (brown) get away with this ? he's the chancellor and yet can't seem to balance the books, without fiddling the numbers.

I'm not at all confident in his ability, and am indeed now growing more concerned about just who this guy is.

Richie J. Bancroft, Enfield,

I don't understand tax credits, why can't people just pay less tax if they are on low income or have children. Rather than, paying tax claiming and then being giving a credit. Could someone explain?

paul, London,

No prolem for Prudence Brown. He can fund this incompetence by sleight of hand on income tax matters in his next budget or by stealing yet more from private pension funds.

paul turfery, cork, ireland

What Brown and the Labour have achieved in the last ten years is the lost of fair play.
Where someone who is honest and prudent, is disadvantage in this society.

A Walton, Leicester, England

Brown seems to live in another world to everyone else.
When the system came in to pay out for lower paid workers, a friend of mine who has a Hairdressing salon had two of her staff ask for part time work to enable them to claim credit, they were also working cash in hand somewhere else. They ended up "loadsa money" better off out of the tax purse. How stupid can you get?
Many people are just cutting their working hours to get the same income.

Dave Madley, Alicante, s

Taxation and waste were the hallmarks of previous Labour administrations and it is no surprise that this unreconstructed Socialist Chancellor is responsible for more of the same, only that it has taken so long for it to come out.

David, Oxford,

Missing from the list of what 2 bn can buy:-
10 MP's salary and expenses;-)

Dave Madley, Alicante, Spain

Because of a change of circumstance I am told I have to fill in a 30 page form instead of a 4 page form just so that I can enter 3 extra figures. I dare say I shall receive a 60 page booklet telling me how to do this. It will not make any difference to the amount I receive but one must follow the rules or get fined. This is where the money goes to waste.

Anthony Box, Wretton, UK

Whats a lost billion here a billion there to Gordon Brown.
The lost billions will be recouped by more billions of tax revenues.

Robin, Farnham, UK

A New Labour and media led campaign promoting Browns chancellorship over the last ten years appears to be coming off the rails. If wasting 5.8 thousand million pounds of our money alone is not an example of gross incompetence what is? When you add the gold reserve sell off fiasco, and the final salary pension scheme demolition
one wonders what other skeletons are starting to rattle in Browns closet.

Philip, Ipswich,

How many taxpayers out there would support a class action to sue for the return of our £67.34 I wonder?

Tim, Billingshurst,

And only this weekend Ed Balls said that funding crossrail would be a financial challenge......ummmm, yes, well of course it would be if you're squandering tax-payers money on things like tax credits I personally know of someone who laughed when his partner received tax credit of £5000 that he said she really didn't need; he said Christmas has come early. I understand why.

Bernard, London, LOndon

A total of £5 billion on this scheme. Carousel fraud of at least £10 billion. Gold sales and £billions lost. This incompetent Chancellor has cost this country £billions and now wants and will be Prime minister. What hope is there for this country?

Richard, Bromley, UK