Monday, March 26, 2007

The UK Budget

There seem to be new problems for some of the poorest within Gordon Brown’s recent UK budget. Whist some better-off people are going to benefit a little, many poor are going to get less. Apparently some can apply for tax credits to even-up the losses, but the take-up of these is not good and is not really the answer. Has Mr GB, the champion of the poor, taken his eye off the ball? Perhaps he will give in to the criticism and adjust something later to sort it out.

But this problem could show that even someone as skilled as Mr Brown at tailoring welfare to special situations is coming to the end of such possibilities. The sub-title of the book The Free Lunch is Fairness with Freedom and one of the solutions in it that would bring greater fairness is a Citizen’s Income (in the book: Citizen’s Royalty). This would be paid at a level amount to all citizens. It would provide a simple answer to Gordon Brown’s problems, make a permanent difference to the well-being of the poor and is workable.

Another budget item was green taxes. They are a major theme of the main UK political parties. This can only be good for the acceptance of the ideas of The Free Lunch. People are becoming accustomed to the idea that taxation is a way of promoting sustainability for the earth’s resources. The necessary combination of such taxation with a Citizen’s Royalty will become the simplest and fairest way to cover each person’s essential-use cost of these resources.

Visit the website, buy the book: www.the-free-lunch.com

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