No Representation without Taxation!

Two things strike me about the Conservatives' (unfunded) pledge to "take those on the minimum wage out of tax altogether", a phrase parroted without evidence of scrutiny by the BBC and its appalling Economics Editor Robert Peston, a man who just doesn't seem to understand that there only ever was and only ever will be one Peter Snow. I fear that the realisation - and it will come one day - may kill him.

1. It's a deceit and a sham. These people are not being taken out of tax: they're being taken out of Income Tax, which, however inadequately levied and wastefully spent, is redistributive in that you pay more if you have a higher income and less if you don't. They'll continue to pay National Insurance as well as taxes like VAT which are less fair because everyone pays at the same rate regardless of income or wealth.

2. It makes tax sound inherently undesirable when it isn't. American revolutionaries rightly demanded that there should be "no taxation without representation" (a formula I hope survives although many modern Americans seem only to know the first two words of it). Tax - fairly levied, wisely spent - is actually a fine thing. It makes possible many other fine things that, were they lost, even the British might take to the streets to restore. Tax is a symbol, but far more than a symbol, of inclusion and social mutuality; it's a contribution to the well from which any community draws.

In fact, the Conservatives' professed desire to "take people out of tax" encourages the something-for-nothing mentality that they tell us they abhor. Lying to us about it is even worse. 

Here's an idea: don't vote for them!