Tax and benefits

Fledgling

I keep hearing about the burden placed on tax payers by benefits claimants.

Why do politicians talk about claimants and tax payers as if they're separate entities? I've paid tax and lots of it. There's a sense of the "deserving poor" and the "undeserving poor" - a victorian social concept being pushed in todays society.

You'll notice that politicians always are careful to mention "income tax" payers. They'll often say the top 1% are paying the greatest proportion of income tax - I'm sure that's true.

But did you know that the poorest pay the highest proportion of their income in taxes?

I've just read an article from the Equality Trust; in 2015/16 the poorest household paid 42% of their total income in taxes. The richest 10% paid 34.3% of their total income in taxes. I don't expect that's improved.

Having been a member of both economic groups during my lifetime, I can confirm that the poor get much less for their money than the rich.

See what kind of interest rate you'll get on a loan if you're poor compared to if you're rich.

If you pay the lowest rate of council tax on your home, someone living in a property worth 10x as much will pay about 4x the council tax you're paying. What are you getting from the council that they're not ?

There are so many indirect taxes

There are no "none tax payers" in this country. A 5 year old child buying confectionery with their bithday money will pay VAT.

People who can't afford to even put their heating on still have to pay a standing charge, and they'll pay 5% VAT on top of that charge.

Don't let the narrative of politicians and tabloids make you feel ashamed or a burden because you're claiming benefits. It's all spin. You're not a burden to society, you are society.

My daughter who has ADHD and who doesn't happen to claim benefits, told me recently of how her generation are being referred to as "snowflakes", because apparently they're all in need of toughening up. It makes her feel judged for having a disability.

If there's an explosion of young people with psychological conditions. Then perhaps we should look at the environment young people have faced over the last couple of decades.

Grow up in a stressed, depressed household and you're very much more likely to suffer with depression and anxiety related disorders as an adult. My mum used to be fond of saying "when money troubles come through the door, love flies out the window".

How would the insecurity of being moved from bedsit to bedsit impact on a childs emotional start in life I wonder. Or having parents falling out and quarelling because of money problems.

Or perhaps the shame of trying to hide your poverty and dirty clothes at school. Of growing up feeling ashamed of your poverty. Always being the one in class with headlice because the treatments are too expensive for your family to buy. Never having your school dinner money or not having the money for the school trips etc.,

Children feel their poverty acutely, and anxiey over family stress creates neural pathways in the brain of young children. A way of thinking and feeling about the world and you're own place in it, you're own security and self-worth.

And what of neural diversity. A study my daughter researched showed that there is a disproportionately higher rate of people (paticularly males), in gaol who have ADHD that was not diagnosed in childhood.

Are todays "Snowflakes"? what were formerly prison fodder? If we have a higher rate of diagnosis of neural diversities, then I say Thank God for it.

It's the social policies of the last couple of decades that have created this boom in young people with problems.

We need to all be wary of the narrative that's developing around benefits and the poor, and recognise the sound bites for what they are. We have very unequal tax system in the uk, and the poor may not pay the most but they shoulder the greater burden.

I'm saddened by way it's become typical for politicians to seek to divert us towards blaming each other for societal problems, rather than have us look too closely at their policies.

When politicians are scapegoating some sector of our society it's always a red flag that we're being deliberately distracted from the real underlying cause of the problem.

I think we need to stick up for ourselves, and take care not to be oppressed by the prevailing narrative. In stead of feeling angry at the injustice of it, most of us try to separate ourselves from the target of the abuse; well we're different. "Others may be that, but not me."

I did it when I stated that my daughter doesn't claim benefits. We use our energy trying to separate ourselves from the "others" who are the real problem. We don't support each other when we do that. It's a divide and rule policy that keeps on working, so nothing gets better for the poorest.

There's a lot circulating that's aimed at blaiming people for their poverty. We should resist the innate urge to see ourelves as an exception. We each need to stick up for all of us together or nothing can change.

governmentsdontcare

@Fledgling

Because it’s suit’s Governments to say that as they love to blame anyone but themselves?

They all seem to love dividing society’ for their own purposes’ so the status quo continues despite all the rhetoric saying there trying to make things better for everyone, but in reality the rich get richer and the poor get poorer!

Santosha12

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/135709/tax-and-benefits

Thank you @Fledgling - an extremely thoughtfully written post and all of your points are very much appreciated!

I thought I'd just pop on to briefly mention two people who came to mind reading your post who you may be familar with and whose work I've followed closely, the first relating to poverty and health inequalities - Sir Michael Marmot (Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health, I think at Imperial College) and the Institute of Health Equity.

He published a report after being commissioned by the Labour Party c 2010 in health inequalities, he followed it up in 2020 and more recently following research in Greater Manchester. I've not read this later one. Can dig them out tomorrow and I'll post links. I wrote to him recently regarding the forthcoming benefits cuts, still in draft form so your post has just given me the momentum to get a move on!!

My interest lay mainly in the effects of childhood poverty which led me, in around 2011, to find the work of Doctor Elizabeth Robinson, an American/Australian who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for her discovery of telomeres, c 2008, which are a biological marker of aging and disease. Her research discovered how children born to mothers who were subject to stress whilst pregnant, had shorter telomeres (a component of DNA). I looked at the various research produced following this and there were links too to young children (mainly I think I recall age 0 to 5 years) living in either abusive households or being subject to emotional distress or neglect can go on to have shortened telomeres and the risk of earlier disease in life including poorer mental health.

Your comments about neural pathways reminded me of this quite fascinating work and I hope it will/has informed the work of others in recognising the critical importance of the 'Early Years'. The effect of poverty will, no doubt, create these conditions.

I bought several copies of E. Robinson's book, I sent a copy to the Princess of Wales because of her work in the Early Years area which I've followed closely.

Sorry, this wasn't so brief after all! The injustices we see, and the poverty levels which too many families endure on a daily basis, are worth fighting against, together, otherwise nobody thrives - in either their health or their life chances and our children deserve better than that.

Santosha12

The 'Early Years' I mentioned, is at: The Royal Foundation: Centre for Early Childhood.

Just one example of its work is the 'Case for Change' a taskforce working with businesses; just one of many examples of businesses getting involved and delivering positive change was Deloittes for example, introducing 26 weeks of full pay for all new parents, but there's lots of initiatives making a big difference for parents, and therefore children.

The government should not be allowed to continually create the conditions for poverty, especially in childhood, to continue and worsen.

Finally.... the thought came to me a few weeks ago that when the benefit cuts to PIP, LCWRA, Carer's Allowance etc. are implemented, very many of those affected will have children so it is not 'only' the recipient of benefits who will be adversely affected, but sadly, their children too.

Holly_Scope

Thank you so much for taking the time to write and share this @Fledgling. Some really great points raised.