{"id":1728,"date":"2014-10-06T12:26:32","date_gmt":"2014-10-06T11:26:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=1728"},"modified":"2014-10-06T12:26:32","modified_gmt":"2014-10-06T11:26:32","slug":"helping-poor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=1728","title":{"rendered":"Helping the poor?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Dave Cam the Con-man has got himself into a right old Eton Mess over his tax claims. Well, it does get them headlines in the Mail<\/em> and the Telegraph <\/em>where Tory cheerleaders don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t usually look at the small print.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The biggest con is Dave Cam\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s claim raising the basic tax allowance from \u00c2\u014110,500 a year to \u00c2\u014112,500 is to help the lowest paid the most. No it won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Even those earning \u00c2\u014112,500 a year, the top end of the allowance will gain, at most, \u00c2\u0141400 a year. Those earning \u00c2\u014150,000 a year will gain around \u00c2\u01412,000 a year in cold cash because the upper rate tax allowance is also being raised.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How does that work?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nearly one in five workers do not earn enough to pay income tax, according to the Institute of Fiscal Studies. Raising the earnings point at which the working poor pay tax will have little impact, unless it comes with some serious pay rises.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pay rises for the poorer paid is not on the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Tory Toffs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 agenda.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The poorest group of workers get miserable pay topped up by benefits. The IFS says 40 per cent of those paying tax and getting benefits such as universal benefits will see little difference.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The reason? What is gained by a higher tax threshold is lost in reduced benefits. And to make matters worse those benefits are being frozen for at least two years.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The biggest cash gainers will be those earning over \u00c2\u014150,000 a year. The top 10 per cent of earners.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Double helpings<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The top earners get double helpings. They gain from the \u00c2\u01412,000 rise in the basic tax allowance which applies to all taxpayers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But they will also get the full gain from the massive promised rise in the upper tax rate from \u00c2\u014141,900 to \u00c2\u014150,000. Those earning between those figures make some gains, but not as much as those earning above \u00c2\u014150,000.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Only 15 per cent of workers earn enough to pay the upper rate of tax at present.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The back of the fag packet where the Tories work out their policies is now full. These policies and the claims made for them fall apart when the surface is scratched.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The most important thing on Dave\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s horizon is the 2015 general election. And the Tories want to win at any cost to you or public services.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They will prioritise the NHS. That means 30 per cent cuts to other government departments according to the IFS.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Seven day a week GP surgery opening times? Older GPs are running for the exit and this year has seen the lowest number of GPs being recruited for seven years.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Balancing the books? Gone for now.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dealing with austerity caused by the bank crash? Ditch that, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more tax cuts on the way for the higher paid, including lots of those bankers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dealing with the deficit that ballooned in the aftermath of the bank-made crisis? Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be daft, cut the tax rate for those earning more than \u00c2\u0141150,000.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Strapped for cash for public services? Cut corporation tax for the biggest companies.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all in it together? Some are more in it than others.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re still on track for average earners to see the biggest decline in their spending power since Gladstone. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s real Victorian values for you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re still on track for this to be the first Parliament since the 1920s when real earnings were lower at the end, than at the start.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In fact Len McCluskey, Unite general secretary recently described the Tories as \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe party that has done more to make working people impoverished and insecure than any government since Margaret Thatcher.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And as Tory cheerleader Frazer Nelson admitted in his Daily Telegraph<\/em> column on October 3, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe real crunch is yet to come\u00e2\u20ac\u0165. That means a public service wasteland.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

IFS predicts that under current spending promises many government departments slashing public services by another third. There is now the further tax giveaway of \u00c2\u01417bn which the Tories can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say where the money will be found.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Grants Shaps, Tory party chairman, was asked repeatedly on the BBC Daily Politics<\/em> programme about where that money was coming from. He did not have an answer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Look for some creative accounting in Osborne\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s upcoming Autumn Statement. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no doubt horrendous public service cuts are on the way if the Tories are back in government from 2015.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey has set out his warning in very stark terms. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe truth is that David Cameron is promising not just more of the same but a whole new round of faster, deeper cuts, finishing the job of destroying our public services.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe millions of working poor in this country will not be helped but hounded, pilloried by ministers who have never faced the choice between eating and heating.\u00c2\u00a0Our young people will be left without hope or expectations of a job, a living wage or even a roof over their heads.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHowever the Tories sugar-coat it today, a vote for that party means five more years of economic ruination and dishonourable attacks on ordinary, decent people. \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u015bYes, our nations absolutely have a stark choice. It is between a government for the people and a government for the privileged.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNext May, Cameron and his cronies should be shown the door.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dave Cam the Con-man has got himself into a right old Eton Mess over his tax claims. Well, it does get them headlines in the Mail and the Telegraph where Tory cheerleaders don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t usually look at the small print.   The biggest con is Dave Cam\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s claim raising the basic tax allowance from \u00c2\u014110,500 a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[44],"wps_subtitle":"Cameron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tax mess exposed ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1728"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1728"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1731,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1728\/revisions\/1731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}