TUC National Demonstration Against Cuts

[OrangeBernard]

Who's going? I've just booked my train tickets. Its my first protest, any advice or tips? Bit worried about kettling.

@Xenia - well he might be at Harvard but £24k tax free then a flat rate seems crazy to me.

What I'd like to see is a genuine universal credit - everybody gets some amount per week. No benefit fraud; very cheap to administer. Extra amounts for children / disabled. Then a small band of zero tax - not the £10k the liberals have gone for - because it would be necessary to start reclaiming the credit. But the rate here should be low: as income increases marginal rates should never decrease and at the moment the highest marginal rate is paid by those coming off tax credits. 5% or 10% at most. I would go for a wide band at this rate, then several more bands - replacing current tax + NI system. Certain sorts of income could be treated differently so that pensioners don't end up paying over the top. The top band should definitely be 50%.

Extra allowances such as rewarding private pension payments are ok but should be capped.

There is no question that a carefully thought out new system from first principles would be better than tweaking the current one: the only reason politicians haven't done it is because they are too scared.

As for benefit fraud: amounts are tiny compared to tax evasion (yes I mean the illegal one) and yet tax evaders get a few months in an open prison at worst - usually just have to pay back + a penalty. Women with young children can end up in prison for long periods for benefit fraud. In many ways the crime is morally identical but the tax evaders are punished less for stealing much more from the rest of us.

Of course people will rip off any system if they can - but lets be proportionate about how we deal with it.

studying seriously, what luxuries can be afforded on JSA? What can you possibly be classing as a luxury?

I didnt say laws didn't have to be abided by...I just wondered why you seem to like speed cameras so, so, so, so much.

@glitter - interesting, thanks. politics and stats - the two best tools for bending the truth. But, like I said, I have no problem with genuine DLA claimants claiming what they need.

what suddenly happened to make life into such a fucking competitive wanky race

the con dems happened.

Studdyhard

@newwave well done for advocating criminal activity. Go and put through some windows of people's houses who actually get there arse out of bed to earn a living and pay the correct amount of tax as dictated by law.

I wont ask your gender but if the suffragettes (who broke the law) relied on people like you them women still would not have the vote.

As for bricking windows I gave that up when I finished hunt sabbing although they tended to be scum hunters and forelock tugging scum hunt supporters car windows.

@wook - sorry - that was @claig - apologies

I wish they would unhappen

It was published by the DWP Information Directorate based on the year 2007/2008. But not published til 2009 and I THINK the most recent. here

Wook, laptops, mobile phones, cars and fags to name but a few .

oh my word...wanky con-dems, of course it all fits into place!

page 8 has a table with fraud rate, more is overpaid than lost in fraud

Oh, we've moved onto flufy wuffy foxes now!

You mean cars like the one I use to take my disabled kids to medical appointments? Mobile phones like the one I have with me in case one of my kids is taken ill whilst we're out?

I sincerely hope none of the above posters who lose sleep over scrounging bloodsuckers like me ever need to claim any benefits for any reason. For one thing you will have contributed to the demise of the Welfare State by your zealous interest in witch-hunting; secondly, the shame and humiliation you will no doubt experience on joining the ranks of the great unwashed will quite likely finish you off. Has it ever occurred to you to fulfil Cameron's wet dream and actually stop some real life tax and benefit fraud? Try researching offshore havens like the Cayman Islands. Not such an easy target as the single mother with the boyfriend who stays over for 3 nights a week, but can still be gratifying. By the way, I don't buy the deserving poor line. I know I'm more to be pitied than blamed, but I don't want pity, I want rights. Not so much "vulnerable" as "livid", to be honest.

Jogon laptops on £65, but of course.....

jogon.

Where I live they can be a pest but I object to anyone getting their rocks off by inflicting unnecessary pain and suffering that's why I hate the Tories

Mobile phone- to ring up for jobs. Cars to travel to interviews or so you can 'get on your bike' Internet to search for jobs.....

alice.... I think it's more about achieving a level playing field too.... living with disability costs money hence why DLA was introduced in the first place BY THE TORIES.

Jogon who are all these benefits claimants you know? The ones you see in the Daily Mail? I wouldn't willingly swap with someone on benefits for every laptop and fag in the world, and nor would you because as you know full well it would be very far from a life of ease and luxury.

Steady on, Glitter, don't tell them it costs money or they'll have it privatisedby Tuesday.

Free laptops wook.

www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/6967216/Free-laptops-with-broadband-to-be-provided-to-250000-low-income-households.html

newwave, I agree.
Draghunting is more fun anyway.

newwave, I keep thinking about the suffragetes every time I see/read something about the 'violence' in London yesterday.

Women didn't get the vote by saying 'would you mind terribly?'; it was very, very hard won by blood, sweat and tears.

But those whose frame of reference doesn't extend beyond the right wing press don't really think in those terms.