Ross Miller wrote:Ok so the current independent estimate of a living wage (based on a 40 hour week is) £298 per week before tax and NI (
http://www.livingwage.org.uk/)
As for alternatives, how about in this time of austerity:
Reducing/closing corporation tax loopholes
Not cutting top rate tax (for now - longer term replace the current tax system with a proper flat rate system)
Not offering incentives to property speculators through the appallingly drafted "house buyers assistance scheme" (even Osborne admits it is unlikely to achieve its aims and will be open to abuse)
Not selling off the NHS to your friends in the corporate sector (all privatisation schemes have ended up delivering more expensive services - but of course it is the punter who pays so that is ok)
Capping private sector rents for "social tenants" to reduce the amount of housing benefit paid out
It is worth reminding people that the majority of the benefits bill (excluding state pensions) is actually paid to people in work through the form of working tax credits, housing benefit, child allowances, council tax benefit etc.
No one denies that there is the need for some form of reform of the benefits system, but it is not the "pig trough of plenty" that the tabloid press paint it as. We do need to consider caps on total benefits paid to any individual, limits on eligibility periods for things like JSA & ESA, but these need to be exercised with care to ensure we do not drive more people into poverty. At the same time we need to encourage job creation through entrepreneurship etc.
Come on Ross.... this is polishing your left wing credentials, you don't really believe all that unlike many of your more unthinking left wing allies.
You know very well - answered one by one..
The first is easier said than done and a too heavy hand could cost the treasury and jobs dearly. All Chancellors have tried closing 'loopholes'.
You also know that high tax rates lose revenue, that is why, like me, you argue for a flat rate tax system. So why keep the high rates as you suggest - being masochistic just to punish the well off is not sensible policy.
I have some sympathy with the next one. I am not sure this is at all wise but it is an attempt to get the property market moving. You know as well as I do that a significant problem is that the regulator has moved from an excessively loose regime over mortgages to one that is excessively tight.
If only the would - I wish the whole NHS was simply dropped as a system and we adopted a continental system to bring up the standards of health care to the best. Your comment about privatisation is simply wrong, totally wrong. The old state monopolies were expensive and inefficient, a liability not an asset. You are just repeating a left wing myth here, power prices, for instance are rising because of two things, foolish green policies and world prices and a nationalised system would not save us from any of that.
Capping rents you know is plain daft. Do you really want to dry up the supply?
I have already said that 'in work' benefits should be phased out as it keeps down wages and taxes up. I certainly am not suggesting that they are all paid only to those not in work.
You are correct in your last comment but it contradicts so much of what you said earlier in your post.