Thursday 22nd October

Well, you don’t hear that so much these days do you?  It was the Tories favourite catchphrase a few years ago, when we were all encouraged to stand together to get the Deficit removed by 2015.  And the promise was that we would all be paying equally or fairly or proportionally in some way.  And the public swallowed it pretty much.  At the last election they even believed Cameron and Osborne when they were asked if they would touch Family Tax Credits and they said “We have absolutely no plans to do so.”  Mind you they promised in 2010 that they had no plans to increase VAT and they did that too in their first budget.  One can only conclude that there is actually no forward planning at the Treasury at all, and that policies appear like rabbits out of a hat a few minutes before the Chancellor stands up to present his Budget.  Heaven forbid that anyone should think they had misled people in any way.

But now that the election is safely out of the way; (what a nuisance it must be for them) the true strategy can emerge.  At the same time as Inheritance tax thresholds are being raised so that Millionaires will pay far less tax, and that the abolition of the 45p tax rate is only another unplanned statement away – we are seeing the poorest in our society paying the price.  On average those on the lowest wages will lose £1350 a year.  That is £112.50 a month.  I would hate to lose that much, but imagine if you are both working and have kids and are only pulling in say £1500 a month anyway as many on Minimum wages will be, then that is a hell of a pay cut.  “Ah but” the Tory Millionaires in the Cabinet say “We have raised tax thresholds and the Minimum wage will increase to £9.00 an hour by the end of the Parliament.”  True, but firstly the tax threshold benefits everyone, even those earning millions.  Secondly the cuts to Family Tax Credit will hit in April 2016 and the rises in Minimum Wage will be phased in over several years.  So the poor will take an immediate hit now.  Also, as we know, they have no plans whatsoever to change Taxes, so who knows what further unplanned reductions will suddenly pop out of the Chancellors mouth in the next few years, especially as he has promised to eliminate the deficit by the end of this Parliament, and may begin to panic if it isn’t happening.  Mind you didn’t he say the same thing five years ago? Oh, so that’s okay – we have nothing to worry about really.