In response to Laura Perrins: This is morally repugnant – encouraging welfare state dependency, Sue Jones wrote:
Taking income from those who already had very little is trapping people in poverty. And the government DID do that.
There is no discrete class of ‘tax payer’. That’s a myth to create an ‘us and them’ mentality. Everyone pays taxes, including those who need welfare support. Most welfare spending goes on those in work on low pay. Those who are too ill to work have generally worked previously and paid into the Treasury. Welfare is publicly funded social insurance FOR the public if or when they hit hard times. It’s not the government’s money to cut. And illness, an accident that leaves you disabled, or a job loss can affect anyone. So perhaps you may want to stop kicking people when they’re already down, as only despots and gross bullies do that.
