Tagged with Equality

Why a tax cut for millionaires is “a good thing”

Yesterday Parliament debated the 50p tax cut for those earning (or paying themselves) more than £150,000 a year, or £3,000 a week, all the way up to the chief executives of the FTSE-100 companies whose remuneration package today averages £4,80,000 a year, which works out at £93,300 a week. The Tories are in favour, and it’s always interesting listening to them trying to defend the indefensible.

Basically they had two arguments. One was that there has been such a scale of avoidance by the mega-rich using one device or another that hardly any extra revenue had been raised, so that abolishing the 50p rate in April 2013 will involve little or no loss to the Exchequer. Their other argument was that demonising the extremely rich with punitive tax measures would drive them away from the UK, and that would have a devastating effect on UK competitiveness. Both of these arguments are wrong. Continue reading →

The state should rid itself of its turbulent church

Equality and religous freedom. Two fundamental rights, belief in which we share, at least in principle, with the Tory party. Maria Miller, Culture Secretary and minister for equalities, may well have our sympathy, then, in urging the Church of England to think again on women bishops. Some MPs, of all major parties, led by former Synod member Frank Field, would go further and legislate to remove the Church of England’s immunities from gender discrimination legislation. This is a mistake. The reality is that antidisestablishmentarianism is no longer an acceptable position. Continue reading →

Reduced spending power is what could finish this government

Real personal disposable income is arguably the most important index of economic welfare. When families’ disposable income is going up, even if by only a little, there is broad, even if only minimal, contentment. But when it starts to go down, especially if the trend continues to go down for any significant length of time, some very significant consequences follow for families, for the economy, and for government. On that basis the latest figures which relate to the first quarter of this year, showing a full 1% fall in disposables incomes in just 3 months, are very serious. Continue reading →

Who are the super-rich beneficiaries from this Budget?

There can be no doubt that the nation’s revulsion against awarding a £10,000 tax break to the top 1% of earners and no less than a £40,000 tax cut to 14,000 millionaires was dramatically sharpened by the fact that it was funded by depriving 4.5 million pensioners of £83 a week. But even if that had not been so (a politically explosive mistake that Osborne will learn to rue), the sheer provocativeness of giving away such huge sums of money (probably nearer to £1bn than the absurdly inaccurate £100m claimed, to ward off the political flak) would have made this at a time of austerity unforgiveable.

But of course that’s just the point – the Tories now feel they can get away with anything – not just handing a tax break to 300,000 people on more than £3,000 a week, but also to chief executives of big companies on an average £86,500 a week and even to Bob Diamond, head of Barclays, on £307,600 a week! Continue reading →