November 11: Tax credit claims do not take all factors into acccount

MULTIPLE letters published in The Yorkshire Post recently have been from correspondents who repeatedly demand that the Chancellor cancel or reduce the planned tax credit adjustments.

Close to every left-wing scribe overstates the truth for political gain. Some will undoubtedly receive a net reduction of income, however to claim that three million people will be over £1,000 or more worse off is, I feel, a blatant lie.

The only figure published in supprort of this claim relates to the cut in tax credit itself, it does not calculate back the effect of higher income tax relief that helps everybody. Nor the benefit of double child minding relief, nor the increase in the national Living Wage rate.

I accept that still leaves some people with a lower income in 2016, but further increases in tax relief and wage rates will reduce the number affected in future years.

For my part, I am now in my 70s and have paid most taxes in my lifetime. I continue to have income tax deducted from my pensions and will probably do so until I am laid in my coffin.

You might ask how do benefits hit me. Well, I have had the pleasure of paying other people’s benefits all my life, and still do so.

Thus I support the Chancellor’s work in reducing the deficit and will continue to do so. Significant expansion of welfare under the Labour Government created a notable segment of the £180bn deficit bequeathed by the Labour government as they left office.

From: Peter Hyde. Driffield, East Yorkshire.

I WAS under the illusion that the Government was supposed to represent the wishes of the people.

However there are clearly two matters on which they are failing to do so, to their shame.

The matter of the scheme to take money from low paid workers by changing the tax benefit rules was a non-starter. Although I do not agree that the Lords should be able to overrule Parliament as a general rule, I feel that, on this occasion, it was a good thing.

David Cameron has promised a referendum on our membership of the EU by 2017 so why am I sceptical? The reason is simply because I do not really trust him to allow it to be impartial and have a fear that all the to-ing and fro-ing currently taking place is an effort to cloud the situation and confuse the voters by the wording of the referendum.

There is also the question, 
will he allow his own party MPs a free vote?