Will he ever admit that he was wrong?

Last Week the Commons Accounts Committee was the latest to criticise the working of our tax credit system. Tax credits were Gordon Brown's pet wheeze to pay money to those on low income. He ploughs on, regardless, although his minister Yvette Cooper has apparently urged a new "efficiency focus", in English she called for the mess to be cleared up!

There are two sorts: (either will be paid into an appropriate account, with later adjustment for changes in situation. In fact, even now after several years of trying to operate the system, there are many cases where families have spent the money only to receive a demand for pull or partial repayment.)

1) Child Tax Credit: (The Government reckons that 9 out of 10 families with children will qualify for this, which is a sign of administrative complexity.) If anyone has responsibility for a child, whether or not the parent(s), he or she is eligible. If the responsibility is shared with somebody at a different address, the two must sort out who will claim.

2)Working Tax Credit: (for employed or self-employed on "low" pay, with extra if you are over 50, are disabled, pay for eligible child care, or you are responsible for one or more children or young people.)

Significantly, this is not an allowance against tax. although with the starting rate for tax-paying now so low that even those on the minimum wage and full time will be paying significant amounts of tax. It is in essence a negative tax.

For many years economists have debated negative income tax as a way of helping the poor. They have come to no conclusion, - not unusual for economists, and they have noted such problems as a disincentive for employers to pay more or for workers to look to better themselves.

The Commons Public Accounts Committee were concerned at the cost of the system, at the fraud and error, and at the sheer loss involved.

It seems that at least 10,000 civil servants are involved in administering the system, at a cost of nearly £600 million a year. Fraud and error are rife and now amount to £1 billion a year, and so far £2.3 billion has been written off as not recoverable.

It is an expensive scheme that has often plunged families into difficulty when they had to repay credits because the initial calculation proved wrong. It is a monument to one man's obsessional delusion, and it is costing us all dear.