Dec 10, 2006

an economic reason to be economic with words

Take a writing course, and increase your spending power! Even if you're the government:
In the 18 months since Gov. Chris Gregoire ordered all state agencies to adopt "plain talk" principles, more than 2,000 state employees have attended classes on writing letters, announcements and documents in everyday language....

[B]y rewriting one letter, the Department of Revenue tripled the number of businesses paying the "use tax," the widely ignored equivalent of sales tax on products purchased out of state. That meant an extra $800,000 collected over two years by the department, which had started its own plain talk initiative before the governor's order.
Of course, as any credit card company knows, obfuscatory--make that confusing--language can earn just as much. Hello, "fixed rates are subject to change."

No comments: