The adage that tax administration is tax policy seems to be borne out by the intervention of the IMF in Greece where the revenue raising effort appears to be more on strengthening tax administration relative to increasing ad valorem or specific rates on existing taxes and introducing new taxes.
In the UK, recent efforts have been on improving tax administration while arguably making the system more complex by policy changes. Perhaps, as well as initiating the delayed Spending Review in the UK, the incoming administration of whichever colour might also be persuaded to carry out a full review of the tax system to focus on both policy and administration. The deficit reduction strategy could then be implemented by addressing all aspects of the PFM equation and be comprehensive in the full PFM sense.
