The Telegraph’s View section commented on the CPS Economic Bulletin on welfare dependency and the size of the state, Sunday 15 February 2015.
To read the full article, visit the Daily Telegraph website.
“A report today from the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) think tank contains this remarkable fact: a majority of households in Britain receive more in benefits than they pay in tax.
Indeed, the percentage that could be defined as “dependant” on state provision of some sort or other rose from 46 per cent when Labour took office in 1997 to 52.5 per cent by 2010. Under the Coalition, it has fallen marginally to 52 per cent .
Clearly, these include both cash payments and benefits-in-kind such as access to education and health care. Also, as the population ages, more older people will be drawing state pensions. Yet, even looking at non-retired households alone, 38 per cent still claim more in benefits than they pay in taxes.”
…
“As the CPS analysis shows, there is a direct correlation between the size of the state and dependency. The notion that what people earn is really the government’s to take and dispose of as it chooses underpins not just welfare policy but even the current political row about tax avoidance.”
…
“The CPS estimates that under the levels of state spending envisaged by Labour there would be an additional 750,000 households in dependency by 2020.
As the report observes, this is an economically and socially destructive phenomenon which blunts work incentives and has the pernicious effect of engendering a culture of low aspirations in some communities.”
To read the full article, visit the Daily Telegraph website.
Date Added: Monday 16th February 2015
