bishop's breakfast
TRANSCRIPT
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Bishop’s Breakfastfive smooth stones
Talk by Simon Duffy of The Centre for Welfare Reformfor members of the Church of England
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1.Welfare state is a good thing2.But its designed wrong3.Many of our beliefs about it are false4. It is biased against the poor5.Citizenship is the key to its reform
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1. Welfare state is good
• Morality demands we create a fair society
• Happiness demands security and freedom
• Efficiency demands we use all our talents
• Prudence demands we avoid fear & crisis
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Fear and insecurity breeds scapegoating, terror, war and
revolution
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2. Welfare is designed wrong
• Hyper-taxation for poor and disabled (e.g. poorest 10% pay highest tax rate, 47%)
• Limited rights, choice and control (e.g. families can’t choose education)
• Subsidises services, not people (e.g. £3 billion spent on 21,000 in private institutions)
• Undermines communities and families (e.g. social care awaits family crisis)
• Rooted in 1940s paternalism
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[The ill-fated Pruitt-Igoe
housing project]
Government doesn’t always
know best
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3. Policy is based on myth
£1 billion benefit fraud, £15 billion tax fraud, £16.7 billion unclaimed benefits, £28 billion of benefit cuts.
Benefits after tax is only £25 billion, most state spending is on middle-earning employees.
Current economic crisis was not created by poor, but by bad lending to home owners and middle earners.
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public expenditure has changed little
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benefits are not technically public expenditure - they are a form of income
adjustment
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the poorest pay the highest levels of taxation
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there are very few fit and healthy working age adults who just rely on benefits
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the UK is the second most centralised welfare state in the world (after New
Zealand)
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benefits fraud is dwarfed by fraud by taxpayers and by government itself
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4. System is biased against the poor
• The poor often pay marginal rates of tax that can exceed 100%
• You must get poor and stay poor to get social care
• Only the better off can choose how they get education, health or social care
• Poor is very poor: as low as £7 per day - poorest 10% of families - £9.50 per day.
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5. Citizenship is the key to reform
• Human rights at heart of system
• Minimum universal securities as rights
• Fair and integrated tax-benefit system
• Individual freedom for all• Families and communities
respected
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1. Join the Campaign for a Fair Societywww.campaignforafairsociety.org
2.Subscribe to The Centre for Welfare Reform
www.centreforwelfarereform.org3.Twitter users can follow #fairsociety
If you want to get more involved