Search This Blog

.....

part from pensions, the largest part of benefits expenditure is on housing benefit, child benefit and tax credits.
don't believe me, read this.
http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2011/11/08/Public_spending_2710.pdf
and yet there is some weird phony war being waged by our politicians against the sections of societies that need benefits but in reality don't really cost that much.
if you look at the total 2010/11 benefit spending its £152.35 billion (excluding tax credits)
the largest component is pensions at £69.78 billion.
while jsa costs the taxpayer £4.5 billion and
housing benefit £21.61 billion
tax credits were £28.08 billion, but that is in the HMRC spending section
the largest disability benefits dla and attendance allowance were £17.17 billion.
esa and incapacity benefit were £7.76 billion.
and yet the most political energy is spent on persecuting unemployed people, and the disabled, yet the reality is that they don't cost much, whereas persecuting them is very expensive, atos is an expensive disaster, and the work programme will cost more money than it saves compared to the numbers it gets back into work.
so the only real ways of saving money on the benefits bill, including tax credits, is through doing something about low wages, and finding a way to reduce rents.
but the only solutions to low wages and too high rents are government intervention, so @arj889 is right, left wing solutions are the only way to reduce the benefits bill.and the other thing is, and i have spent far longer than i intended on this, benefits have a multiplier effect, they give money to people who don't have any and will spend it, and increase growth, and unemployment is what is called a financial stabiliser, as it reduces the impact of a recession by giving money to the unemployed.
so reducing out of work benefits, and tax credits to those on lower wages, reduces growth, reducing tax credits to those on higher incomes would reduce growth less.
whereas reducing rents through rent capping, for example, would benefit people who on low wages who didn't qualify for housing benefits, and reduce investment income, for those who need it less.

No comments: