If there’s one certainty in history, it’s that empires that rise are certain to fall. There has been, to my knowledge, not one exception to this rule. Britain is certainly no exception, as the British resignedly witness the inexorable waning of its star. Apparently Britain is so broke that it can’t even afford to continue the network of School Sports Partnerships carefully constructed by the Youth Sport Trust over the past decade. A mere £136 million is all it takes to fund this extremely productive extracurricular scheme, but it seems the once mighty British Empire is just too poor these days. Or is it?

When we consider that ¬£136 million represents a mere morning’s activity by the British military in Iraq or Afghanistan, in a sport that we along with the US have long been very fond of, £136 million suddenly seems like small change. Obviously UKPlc is not totally broke. But expenditure on foreign crusader wars is only part of the story. George Monbiot, writing in his weekly Guardian column 9/11/10, explains just why we seem to have run out of cash, and it’s absolutely nothing to do with the Tory fantasy of foreign or domestic scroungers bleeding the benefits system.

Already gaining a well deserved reputation as a fierce and fearless warrior for a sane environmental policy, Monbiot has now turned his journalistic attention to matters financial, and in a scorching piece, he has exploded some of the myths surrounding the much hyped British budget deficit, and in so doing has put an army of financial commentators, left and right, to shame. Quoting Richard Murphy of the organisation, Tax Research, Monbiot tells his readers that tax avoidance and evasion along with outstanding tax debts totals some ‘120 billion or three quarters of the budget deficit. Monbiot adds,

No one would claim that all this missing money could be recovered. But even if 20% were clawed back, the most damaging cuts could be reversed.

Are things about to get a whole lot better under the new administration? Not a bit of it. Monbiot reminds us that the last Conservative administration cut corporation tax from 52% to 33%. The Labour Government, the government of ‘the ordinary people’, cut it again to 30% which we were told was a great asset for the British economy. So pleased with this corporate friendly environment that they were creating on our behalf, Labour cut corporate tax again, this time to 28%. Not to be outdone, the new incoming Coalition Government has promised to cut again, this time to 24%. Add to that tax avoidance and the real corporate rate, according to Monbiot, will be closer to 24%.

And returning to the subject of tax avoidance, Monbiot points to the case of Boots, that nice friendly chemist in the High Street. Monbiot explains:

Some companies pay less than others. A recent edition of the BBC’s File On 4 found, for instance, that the chemist chain Boots, after relocating to a post office box in Switzerland, has legally cut its tax bill from more than £100m a year to about $14 million.

Vodaphone is apparently up to similar tricks. Some commentators suggest it has wriggled out of a staggering £6 billion worth of tax by manoeuvring its profits through a subsidiary in Luxemburg. Perhaps Monbiot’s starting figure of ¬£120 billion is on the conservative side. Monbiot finishes his article with a sobering slogan:

We are living in a country where the poor bail out the banks, while the rich keep their billions intact. Meanwhile the School Sports Partnerships, so instrumental in the fight against obesity, anti-social behaviour and social exclusion, are left to count their remaining few days of existence. I should know I’m employed by one of them.