After Scotland failed to get its independence, Britain prime minister David Cameron was relieved that his job is secured, at least for now. But his real problem is UKIP – UK Independence Party – the rising star that almost every Briton calls the real patriotic party worth voting for. Basically, the country has gone to the dogs, in reference to Cameron administration that seems to have done all the wrong things.
Britain is the 13th most prosperous country in the world and the most prosperous large European country – above Germany (14th), France (21st) and Italy (37th). It’s the third most prosperous country in the G7 and the fourth in the G20. The country is also one of the freest country, at least 91% Britons believe so as far as their personal freedom is concerned. However, Britain is also a nation of benefit scroungers – immigrants who are coming in droves but do not work or take away all the jobs.
Naturally, David Cameron is left with little choice but plays to the gallery, pretending he’s super-duper concerns about Britain’s welfare. The pressure from anti-EU UKIP ahead of a May 2015 national election, Cameron’s Conservatives have said they would try to cap immigration from the rest of the EU if re-elected. Unfortunately, Cameron’s drama is now in jeopardy after German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Cameron that Britain can leave the EU for all she cares.
Apparently, Angela Merkel has warned Britain’s David Cameron that putting limits on immigration from other European Union nations would be a “point of no return”, and Germany would rather see Britain leave the EU than allow David Cameron to tear up its rules on free movement of labour. Mr Dave was negotiating for a proposition that would ban EU migrants entering Britain unless they had a job to go to, and anyone unable to support themselves would be deported after 3-months.
Now that Angela has dropped the warning bombshell, with David unlikely to retaliate, many believe this is the clearest sign of Mr Cameron’s weakness. UKIP leader Nigel Farage happily said that the only logical next step is to abandon the renegotiation and announce an immediate referendum. Beside migrants snatching local jobs and cheating on benefits, many Britons are also not happy that thousand of people are paid a whopping £54million (US$86 million; RM287 million) in sickness benefits – because they’re too fat to work.
Hence, from November 2 onwards, millions of Britons will be sent letters showing how much income tax they pay – and what it is spent on. In order to promote greater “transparency” and to “appease revolting Britons”, HM Revenue & Customs will begin sending 24 million taxpayers the first Annual Tax Summary, containing pie charts showing exactly how much of their earnings are being spent on areas including the welfare, health, education and foreign aid budgets.
But these 24 million recipients are expected to get a shock when they slowly understand how their hard-earned money is being spent by their government. A person earning £60,000 a year will be told that £4,471 (7.45%) of their salary is spent on welfare and £1,277 (2.12%) is spent on the national debt interest. The state pension accounts for £2,210 (3.68%) of spending.
Of the taxable income, £3,442 (5.73%) goes to help fund the NHS and just £538 of a £60,000 salary goes to transport projects. Foreign aid will account for £210 of a person’s taxable income and £138 will go to the UK’s contribution to the European Union budget. Defence spending would account for £968 (1.61%) of the taxable income of someone earning £60,000 a year.
Someone earning £45,000 would have paid £11,937 in tax and NICs, of which an estimated £2,926 went to welfare, £2,253 to health, £1,570 to education, £1,446 to state pensions and £836 to national debt interest, with £137 to overseas aid and £90 to the EU. George Osborne, the Chancellor – who first announced the scheme in his 2012 Budget – said that it was designed to make the tax system more transparent and easier to understand.
Someone on a salary of £30,000 will see that £1,663 of their money is spent on welfare, with £1,280 going to health, £892 going to education, £822 going to the state pension and £475 going on national debt interest. An individual earning £23,000 would pay £4,541.76 in tax and National Insurance. The 16 million “PAYE” taxpayers will receive their personalised summaries in the post over the course of the next 7-weeks, while the 8 million who complete self-assessment returns will be able to access their statement online.
Sample letters also show someone earning £23,000 in 2013-14 would have paid £4,542 in income tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs), of which £1,113 was spent on welfare, £857 on health, £597 on education, £550 on state pensions, £318 on national debt interest, £52 on overseas aid and £34 on Europe. There’s one major problem with the summaries that close to 30 million UK taxpayers will not know though.
They do not break down the category of ‘welfare’ into its component parts, which essentially comprises money spent on child benefit, jobseeker’s allowance and expenditure on sick and disabled people, among other costs. Because it lumps all welfare payments together, it gives people the impression the bulk of welfare goes to working-age unemployed people when in reality that is a very small proportion.
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November 3rd, 2014 by financetwitter
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