[Gllug] [OT] Times Article on ABD was Fighting a virus

[David Damerell]

On Tuesday, 20 Feb 2007, Tethys wrote:
>>>The welfare state is all very well, and a laudable idea, but it has been
>>>taken to the point where roughly 35% of families have NO earned income
>>>and live entirely on "benefits".
>>He may be in for a busy day, too.
>Actually, that one at least has some basis in fact, even if the figures
>are wrong (it's *half* the household income from benefits, not living
>entirely on benefits):

Well, with the figures wrong, the statement that in Britain we pay the
lowest taxes in the world has some basis in fact.

[I also suspect creative accounting. Why per-household? Want to bet
that's fewer than 35% of people, because every single jobless guy is a
"household"? Likewise counting tax credits as household income - let's
not forget that's money the goverment took from people in the first
place. Getting a reduction in tax is not income in any meaningful
sense, even if the whole scheme is a pretty wrongheaded way to reduce
tax; also there's a certain irony to the Torygraph effectively
complaining that the Government has, er, reduced taxes.]

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