You know it's coming but it's still a nasty shock. The inconspicuous envelope drops through the letterbox, you open it, sort through the bumph and then POW - it hits you.

"Council Tax for 1999/2000"

It's gone up 7.5 per cent this year and even people in the lowest band will have to cough up nearly £600. When it's split up into monthly repayments it's usually the second biggest outgoing after the rent or mortgage and you can understand why a lot of people begin to question what they get for their money.

Year on year it seems you pay more for less. The bills go up while services are cut or reduced and in any other area of daily life you'd want to take your business elsewhere... which has got Citizen Smith thinking.

Over the years we've seen the rise of insurance direct, banking direct, shopping direct even fine wines direct. The theory is cut out the middleman and everyone's a winner.

So what about Government Direct with all us taxpayers as shareholders?

For starters, there would be an annual general meeting once a year where you could vote to sack the board if they did anything as bungling as lose £2 million on a silly pink plastic thingy.

No waiting four to five years for an election - you could even call an extraordinary general meeting if it was serious enough.

And just imagine doing your Government Direct business over the phone. "Hello, you didn't collect my rubbish last week can you knock it off my bill? - Certainly sir, I'll do that for you now."

Ah, I hear you say, what about poorer people who use more services but cannot afford to pay?

Well, at the moment we spend billions in benefits when most low income and unemployed people would prefer to be doing something more useful. Perhaps Government Direct, overwhelmed by demand for its great services, could give them a decent, well-paid job - they are shareholders after all and I'm sure something could be arranged.

But what about vital issues like national defence? Well, at a shareholders meeting via interactive TVs, everyone who wants to chip in for a nuclear deterrent can do so. If there's not enough money in the pot then - oh well, no can do - but at least you'll get a more accurate measure of what people actually believe in. Nothing focuses the mind more than having to stump up the cash.

And all the profits made by Government Direct? Well it's a simple choice. Either we invest in improving services or keep down the costs. Either way, everyone's a winner, except of course the poor fat cats and politicians.

And anyway, I'm sure some people would throw a few coppers their way if they passed them in the street.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.