Monday, July 5, 2010

The less you earn the more you get.


Every time a story like this gets a bit of coverage I'm always surprised at the, umm, surprise from various people.

It's certainly not news to me, nor I suppose your good self, that the less you earn the more the state will give you and the more you earn the more the state will take from you. (Note, I said the less you earn the more the state will give you).

So where is the incentive?

Incentive for what? No, not the incentive to earn a decent crust, there is none. Only a fool, (ie, me and probably you), would.

I mean the incentive to deal with the madness that is the welfare system? The ConDem Abomination are making some noises on the issue but we all know that nothing of substance will happen. Yeah, one or two 'reforms' to certain parts of the system will be introduced to appease the Daily Hate brigade and to ensure that they can say that they have 'done something'.

The bare fact is, any attempt by any political party to properly reform the welfare system is political suicide. Too many battles for votes are waged on the welfare battlefield.

So what to do?

Yes, it's a tough one. Only workers earning over X amount should be allowed to vote? The votes of those on benefits/tax credits only count as a half? Very draconian stuff.

But really, what to do?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sometimes (and only sometimes) the Septics have it right (just the wrong way round):

No representation without taxation!

Neatly takes care of the non-doms, as well as the full-time benefit claimers

ProfessorGorgon said...

Will the gorgon be allowed to vote if he takes up his Ivy League post ?

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/politics/university-posts-beckon-for-brown-1.1039220

Corrugated Soundbite said...

By the way, Rab, I've given you a further nudge forth in the Total Politics voting thingy ;-) (apologies, too tired to remain on topic).

Dark Lochnagar said...

Rab, not all benefit claimants are dodgers. I agree it can be hard when you see people getting benefits nd you're not getting any. Most of these people have worked hard in their lives and can no longer due to their disablement. DLA for instance is fucking hard to get with Doctors' inspections and panels to sit before. Not everyone on benefits is a thieving bastard, it just seems that way in Killy! But it's not the case.

RantinRab said...

DL, I agree with you. I'm merely trying to highlight the insanity if the system.

RantinRab said...

I totally agree with you DL. I'm just trying to highlight the madness of the system.

ENGLISHMAN said...

The only suggestions that i have heard over the past few months,concerns this very topic,and only confirms the deeply conditioned state of the indigenous population of these islands,for when we plebs turn on our own we are truly lost,and that is all that we hear,they maybe scum,scroungers and all the rest,but the bottom line is that they are our people,deserving of our support in times of need,far better to focus our ire upon those pakis,ethopians,nigerians and the rest of the third world plague of parasites that wish our ultimate destruction and the disspossession of our people from thier rightfull country.

Mark Wadsworth said...

Flat rate universal Citizen's Income scheme. For presentational purposes, people can waive the cash benefit and choose a higher tax-free personal allowance instead*.

PS, I checked the DWP tables and DirectGove benefits advisor, it is indeed true that a married man with three kids would be about £10 or £20 a week worse off if he took a pay cut from £22k to £13k, the difference must be made up with more specialised or locally offered benefits, like free school dinners or subsidised travel or something.

Next.

* There are some maddening middle class people who say they don't need child benefit. So offer them an extra child personal tax allowance that would save them £1,000 per child per year instead, I'm bloody sure they'd take it.