Benefits

I don’t pay my taxes to bail out the banks so they can then take the piss later on. I pay my taxes so we can have a safe infrastructure, effective emergency services, the country is able to defend itself, a decent NHS and that people who need support from the state can receive it.

It always makes me very nervous talking about benefits as previously I have had abuse and threats from people over it. Now I will be honest and say that I don’t know what it is like to live on benefits in the short or long term. I have claimed benefits for a total of 3 months over a period of 17 years. From what I have seen a life on benefits is not a good life, it is hard and gives you bare minimum you need to live on.

I have a question, how many people does it need to give a group of people a bad name? Very few I would say. Now I am only human at the end of the day and I genuinely believe the vast majority of people who are on benefits need to be on them. The problem I have is that some people don’t need to be on them, some people commit fraud and thanks to the news I see that there are people who appear to be refusing to look for a job because of the amount of benefits they receive. This annoys the hell out of me and makes me very resentful. Again before you jump down my throat I will point out that I am only human.

I do have another issue and that is MP’s and members of the House of Lords who don’t pay taxes in the UK or think nothing of claiming expenses who then dictate to the rest of us about benefits. Okay so thanks to the bankers and politicians the country is up to the eyeballs in debt and we need to pay for it so I have some suggestions.

If you live and work in the UK then you pay income tax on your earnings. None of this non dom status. People who have been using this to avoid paying taxes should pay all of the taxes they have avoided paying on top of any future taxes . Anyone who refuses should be barred from being in any form of government and subject to very serious punishment.

The punishments for tax avoidance and benefit fraud should be drastically increased. They should be banned from receiving any form of benefits until they have paid everything back. I would also suggest that they are prevented from using bankruptcy as a way of avoiding debts by either increasing the period of bankruptcy to 25 years or that tax and benefit debts be protected from bankruptcy.

Child benefit is something that everyone is entitled to regardless of wether you earn £5000 or £500000 a year. Likewise the more children you have the more you receive. This is wrong, very wrong and completely unfair. I believe that this benefit should be means tested and limited to say 2 or 3 children. If you earn £30000 and say that you rely on child benefit I would say that either you seriously need to look at your life style or you are being selfish.

Everyone who needs benefits should be able to get them but the system needs to be fair to everyone. To protect the most needy in society we have to make sure everyone pays their contribution. Those who abuse the system need making examples of and politicians need to take responsibility for their actions and stop attacking those who don’t agree with their very biased views.