Emeritus Prof Christopher May2d ago

Today the two-child benefit cap on universal credit ends (after nine years) allowing us to see (when data becomes available) what impact its imposition & now reversal had on child poverty.

Apart from anything else this will have been interesting opportunity to see clearly how state benefits impact poverty, and also (once again) give some indication of the skewed impact of the impact of austerity (which remains, while un-named, still at the centre of UK politics)

#benefits #poverty #austerity

Show threadTerryB
@ChrisMayLA6 There's another aspect to that. The cap was an illustration of the " Why should I..." mentality. "Why should I pay for schools I don't have kids/use private schools" "Why should I pay for the NHS I have insurance". And so on. In this case it was "Why should I pay for other people's large family". Which politically is the hardest to resist, I guess. Trouble is it's the kids who suffer- not the parents.
Apr 6 at 9:44amWeb
Show threadEmeritus Prof Christopher May2d ago

@TerryBTwo

The perennial tax 'problem'.... but that's also reflective of the growing individuation of tax politics into a contract approach - what do I get for what I pay

Show threadTerryB2d ago
@ChrisMayLA6 That's a natural progression of telling people that tax is somehow an evil that should be minimised rather than a shared responsibility for the good of society.