Are bureaucrats as eternal as their policies seem to be?

One can only hope not!  A few years ago, USA Today reported:

A pesky, century-old tax on your phone bill is finally being put to rest.

The Treasury Department said Thursday that it will no longer collect a 3% federal excise tax on long-distance calls and would refund about $15 billion to taxpayers.

The tax was imposed in 1898 to help pay for the Spanish-American War. It was designed as a tax on wealthy Americans, back when phone service was considered a luxury.

There's more at the link.  Bold print is my emphasis.

I daresay the war's been paid for by now!  That's an even bigger bureaucratic blunder than Robert Sobel's famous tale, as recorded by Robert Townsend:

"The British created a civil-service job in 1803 calling for a man to stand on the Cliffs of Dover with a spyglass.  He was supposed to ring a bell if he saw Napoleon coming.  The job was abolished in 1945."

I have a suggestion.  Let's abolish 50% of all Government administrative jobs right away, followed by a further 5% reduction every year until such time as we find it truly impossible to run the country.  Then add back the last 5% to be cut, and keep the level there.  We'd save a fortune, and the time-servers and seat-warmers would have to find a more productive way to make a living instead of consuming our taxes to no good end.

Bureaucrats!  Grrr!





Peter

EDITED TO ADD:  I note that some commenters thought this was a current report until they read the source article, and realized it was from 2006.  I posted it because the similarity to the British civil service position (which was in effect for almost one and a half centuries) struck me as incongruous.  I should have made it more clear that this wasn't a contemporary issue.  My bad.  Sorry if I caused any confusion.