by Mark Angelides
Recent figures show that in the UK, more than 50% of households receive more in State benefits than the pay in direct taxes (income tax, VAT etc…) to the Government. The Centre for Policy Studies says that “the average household paid £13,402 in taxes in 2013/14. Yet it received £12,939 in cash benefits and benefits in-kind” When this is added to education and health benefits shows that the majority of British people are a drain on the public purse.
This is not to say that it is the public’s fault. The system in place means that people are given “working tax-credits” in the form of benefits and housing relief. It is the system that has “enslaved” working people into a spiral that forces them to live via Government allowances. And of course this means that the finances of the UK will inevitably lead to more and more debt for the UK (the Government has borrowed an extra £700 Billion since 2010).
But the thing is, it is designed to be this way. It is not an accidental occurrence, nor a mismanagement of public finances, but a policy that the UK government has been committed to for many years, regardless of who is in power. The rate stood at 43.1% in 1979, and it has increased incrementally since then.
The Government wants the British people to be wards of the state. They want the public to avoid any form of “revolutionary behavior” by threatening the people with a loss of benefits. It is quite simply a case of “support us, or starve”.
In 2014/15, £258 Billion was spent on the Welfare budget; this is around 35% of the whole year’s budget. And of that figure, the Government tries to placate us by saying that 42% (£108 Billion), was spent on pensions. And who could argue with paying pensions for old people who have long paid into the system? But it is a con job. In the UK, we pay National Insurance Contributions directly from out wages (through the Pay As You Earn, PAYE Scheme) as our pension contributions. This money has been spent by the government when it should have been kept aside to actually give back to the people who have been paying in their entire life. The pension contributions are not monies to be spent on pet projects, the money has been paid in so that it can be taken out at a later date). So why is it coming from the tax budget?
The UK Government wants the British people to rely on the State for their well-being. They want them to be financially dependent on the system that ensures their own slavery. A new way of living is enquired, and the only way to achieve this is through a political revolution.
* I use the term Socialist in the title to refer to “English Socialism” as opposed to the regular definition (for a solid description, please read Orwell’s 1984 appendix)