Thank
you to 5285 supporters, so far, who have liked our Facebook page and
what we stand for since the page was started on the 18th February 2012
and to the 370 members who have signed up on our website since the
following letter was published by The Guardian
A TAXPAYERS ALLIANCE TO PROMOTE SOCIAL JUSTICE.
The Guardian, Thursday 16 February 2012 21.00 GMT
Ministers
at the Department of Work and Pensions repeat ad nauseam their mantra:
"It is not fair for taxpayers to be asked to pay for the cost of spare
bedrooms, or housing benefit which is high in central London because
rents are high etc, etc." Therefore the poorest citizens are thrust into
unmanageable debt by caps and cuts in housing benefit, possible
eviction, forced migration, undue stress and misery.
As
a citizen who pays income and council tax, VAT and the excise duty on
my evening glass of wine, I steam with indignation each time I am used
by ministers to justify such draconian measures making people poorer.
I
am glad my taxation is used to enable my fellow citizens, both in and
out of work, to buy enough food, clothes, fuel, transport and other
necessities, to pay council tax and the rent of secure homes, when they
have no other means to do so; and bewildered by the short-sightedness of
a policy which deliberately reduces the totally inadequate adult JSA of
£67.50 a week (now £71.70) by creating rent arrears, with debt-related
mental health problems and high extra costs for a hard-pressed NHS.
The
self-evident unfairness is the current policy of dumping national debt
and deficit reduction on the incomes of the squeezed middle and poorest
citizens, while the higher-paid taxpayers experience no financial
inconvenience.
Meanwhile
the OECD reports that $11.5 trillion, including bonuses, is parked in
overseas accounts and the Treasury is aware that £100bn of property in
central London alone is registered overseas – both out of reach of the
taxman. That really is unfair. I hope thousands will join Taxpayers
Against Poverty, TAP, to say so loud and clear. All we need is an email.
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