Hell, I feel stupid. I really don't like feeling this way. That everyone else knows and understands something I don't. It is difficult to stand up and say 'hang on a minute - can you run that past me again'? You think there is something glaringly obvious but when no one else mentions it you convince yourself you are stupid. I really hate feeling like this.
Take Child Benefit. This payment is not means tested so anyone with a child can claim it. No matter how rich you are you are able to claim this benefit. However the poorest of the poor, those in receipt of Income Support for instance, have it given with one hand and taken away with the other. It has always been this way and no one has ever battered an eyelid. So why the fuss now that those in the higher tax bracket (earning in excess of forty grand a year) are going to have this benefit withdrawn in 2013.
If you are claiming Income Support and it is decided that you need £100 a week to live on you are means tested before that £100 is given to you. 'What money do you have coming in?' you are asked. 'Eh? nothing...thats why I am filling in this form and sitting in this hell hole. I have nothing. The larder is bare' 'Ahem. I take it you claim Child Beneift?' 'Well, yes. £20 a week. It is a universal benefit.' 'Not for you it isn't. We will take it from the amount you are deemed to need to live on. So we won't give you £100. We will give you £80!'
Yet earn £100.000.000 a year and you can have it, no questions asked. It has been this way for years.
Why don't they just scrap it altogeher? Those in most need will have their Income Support topped back up to £100 so will not suffer from it's demise and those who are on a low wage and in receipt of Child Tax Credit can be awarded an extra £20 per child. No one who needs the money will lose out and those who don't need it won't get it. Simples.
I was struck the other day about the similarities between Cameron, Clegg and now Miliband. Compare those guys to Bob Crow. Crow, a trade union leader, is reported to earn £133,183 a year. Crow is the son of a dock worker, he attended a secondary modern school, until the age of sixteen when he left and joined London Transport. Bob Crow earns almost as much as Cameron(£142,500) and more than Clegg and Miliband. Which goes to show class has nothing to do with how much someone earns. It has to do with the breed of dog you own (Crow - a Staffy), how you look in casual clothes, the way you speak, the money your family has (Camerons has millions) and your sense of fairness.
I wonder if the mothers of these mens children claim Child Benefit?
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