pumpkinsweetieMasPudding Thu 20-Dec-12 23:20:42
To create a fair system, the minimum wage needs upping so that those who do work benefit from working.
Actually I disagree in that. In pushing the minimum wage up the effect tends to be more people on the bottom of the scale and less jobs all round because employers recruit fewer people in the first place. It also tends to push up prices too - and inflation negates the benefits of a higher minimum wage.
Its better to actually raise the threshold at which you start paying tax, to be more in line with the living wage line and adjust the tax bands above that accordingly as its then not employers, particularly big businesses who employ a lot of people at minimum wage, who are dictating what happens and passing on their costs and squeezing the bottom end rather than the top.
You want more people employed, not less. And you want them to be able to afford to live.
This is actually what the Lib Dems had in their manifesto and have pushed for and got. For all their failings in the coalition this is one damn good thing they have achieved. Sadly largely ignored, rather than given the praise it deserves regardless of your political persuasion.
Unfortunately, the tax threshold they are putting in over the next couple of years is only going to be raised to around £9k. But the living wage for a single person without children comes in at around £14k (the living wage for couples and people with children differs) which is a pretty big difference. So its easy to see the actual problem here. I don't think the threshold should go as high as living wages, but it needs to be closer to living wage on a household basis (rather than individual basis) than is currently the case.