France's civil service – or at least part of it – is finally entering the consumer age. One of the last measures proposed by Nicolas Sarkozy, the finance minister, before he leaves his job this week to head President Jacques Chirac's ruling UMP party, was to revamp the quality of service that taxpayers receive from the authorities. However, consultants have left their footprints all over the document in the form of jargon.

In addition to pledges of greater openness, transparency and responsiveness, the new-look tax administration has come up with punchy slogans like: "Public service is, above all, about serving the public." One of the 30 measures promises that "tax forms will be rewritten in a language everybody understands".