Universal benefits are silly, a positive affront to reason. But we have grown used to them, even though they mean the taxpayer is in the end subsidising himself.
And he does it through a system which involves recycling the money of every taxpayer via the creaking and costly Whitehall machine.
The better-off pensioner exemplifies how illogical the system has become. Half the time he rails against the level of taxes, the other half he protests at the idea that he should lose the winter fuel allowance, free TV licence, free bus pass etc. He has been persuaded to contend that these are his right.
So much so that David Cameron promised at the 2010 election that tax-free benefits for pensioners would be safe at least for a Parliament under him. Labour suggestions to the contrary were shameful nonsense!
You may well argue that the right time to object to any universal benefit is when it is introduced, not years later. But these benefits, sadly, have a long history of cross-party support.
The reality is that the Welfare State has reached its moment of truth, as they say in bull fights, when the final confrontation takes place.
The economy faces a triple-dip recession, the Treasury is running out of money, government plans to curb spending are falling behind.
However, this moment of truth is not ending in one sharp thrust of the sword but in a welter of confusion, argument and combat between Whitehall departments.
More... Only three savings accounts now beat inflation as 2013 starts out as a 'dreadful year for savers with little hope of change' Goldman Sachs scraps plans to dodge 50p tax rate on bankers' bonuses... just hours after King launches attack on City greed Income Tax tablesCreating a Welfare State that directs benefits even to the well-off may be silly, but it is so easy to do.
Dismantling it, on the other hand, is very tricky and even verges on the impossible when politicians are so determined not to upset this or that section of the electorate.
Moreover, if universal benefits serve to create a whole series of vested interests in the population, ever more reliant on the State — and always ready to gain the ear of the media — then Labour finds that a very agreeable outlook.
Income tax is easy to understand because it is spelt out for each individual. It is the vast area of indirect taxes and duties which makes it virtually impossible to get the whole pictureNo one understands how much of their income goes in tax, though they find it very easy to measure how much makes its way back into their own pockets, especially when it is in the form of cash, like the winter fuel allowance.
It may even be particularly alluring for a higher-rate taxpayer who would have to earn quite a lot to get back that sum.
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Many are under the delusion that they pay little tax on simple purchases. But businesses do not pay tax, not a penny. Only people, those things with arms and legs (and votes), pay that.
They can pay it in 1,001 different ways. When you buy a cup of coffee, you are contributing to the sum that the company hands over through National Insurance, local government charges, VAT and all the rest which businesses are always trying to minimise.
At the very end of the process the company will also try to minimise corporation tax. It is just another overhead which the company charges you, though whether within or without tax law is open to argument. Still, you pay it, just as you pay all the other imposts of the State.
Did you know that, for the poorest 20 per cent of the population, between 35 and 40 per cent of their income goes to the Government largely through the effect of indirect taxes? Probably not — certainly not in the case of that bottom 20 per cent.
Government departments are always happy to provide tables showing how welfare benefits are distributed.
It would greatly help public understanding if the Government also published lists, however long or approximate, of how different groups of taxpayers have to meet the costs.
But it would make people marvel at the expense of Whitehall — so no chance!
Britain must stay out of AfricaThe British loan of two military transport aircraft to France, which is fighting Islamist rebels in Mali, looks odder by the day — enough to suggest involvement, not enough to make an impact.
The UK Government cites ‘security’ and ‘ensuring that the conflict does not spread’ as reasons (though it is already spreading). ‘Boots on the ground’ assistance is ruled out.
But doesn’t the RAF Regiment, which will be safeguarding the planes, have boots? What happens if any of them are shot? Or if one of the planes is downed with missiles smuggled in after Gaddafi’s defeat in Libya?
We cannot do better than repeat the comments of Paul Flynn, the Left-of-the-Left Labour MP, who protested on Monday that we have no former colonial links or British interests at stake and are opening the way again to reprisals against British citizens. He spoke for England, as the old phrase goes.
Cameron’s rash gesture aims to gain French friendship before his big speech on Friday. It is yet another reason to question the worth of EU membership.