tax the poor … make them pay!
Anyone with any doubts as to New Labour’s socialist agenda must surely have ditched those doubts now that Gordon Brown’s abolished the 10p rate of income tax, often referred to as the lower rate.
This was an ‘integral’ part of Gordon Brown’s last budget as Chancellor and has been widely described as ‘unreasonable targetting’ of the poorest in our society. Naturally the Government in Westminster denies this, stating that the last budget provided gains for 16 million households … maybe so, but only if they know which benefits to claim or even what benefits are available.
The change has been critisiced as effecting those households worst where there are no children or where there are pensioners. Of course New Labour are well known for new taxes, bigger taxes, faster taxes, and stealth taxes … sorry I also forgot to mention ‘green’ taxes, no? Nevermind.
During Wendy Alexander’s keynote speech at the Scottish Labour Party Conference this year she said:
And when you strip away the spin its clear where the SNP stand.
It is not on the side of those who believe in progressive taxation and public spending….but with those who favour tax cuts for the rich and what’s left for the rest.
Sorry Wendy? I think I misheard you what was that again?
….but with those who favour tax cuts for the rich and what’s left for the rest.
But isn’t that just exactly what your party has done Wendy, abolished 10p rate of taxation whilst reducing the basic rate of income tax by 2%?
That doesn’t sound very socialist does it? What else you got Wendy?
The SNP claim cutting business rates is popular…but let’s see whether the closed schools; reduced services to pensioners; or staff redundancies are popular.
Oh! You mean like in Aberdeen where they are having to make £27m worth of cuts to local services thanks to overspending by the previous Labour Party / Liberal Party coalition. Also while we have Labour in Westminster we’ve seen strategic services such as Scottish Power being sold off to Spanish interests, no doubt that’ll end up in tears when the redundancies begin and we’ve seen Scottish and Newcastle sold off and broken up including the loss of jobs at it’s former HQ - just two that spring to mind - all under the watchfull eye of the Labour Party.
Wendy claims to have joined the party in 1979. It must have come as a bit of a shock then when it turned out that Labour wasn’t Labour anymore, but New Labour instead. But no, that seems to have passed her by as well:
But of course this wasn’t what we were promised last May.
The SNP promised to be more Labour than Labour itself.They promised that student debt would be abolished.
They promised every first-time buyer would get a £2000 grant.
They promised primary class sizes would be cut to 18.
They promised a freeze in the council tax without cutting services.EVERY ONE A BROKEN PROMISE.
Labour hasn’t been itself for some time, some might say since they were reborn out of the ashes of, well, John Smith. I seem to recall that New Labour swept into power in 1997, I also seem to recall that they were still banging the ‘education, education, education’ drum some time later at the last general election … having failed to deliver. So given that, I’m not too concerned when a minority SNP Government hasn’t delivered on it’s entire manifesto in the 11 months since it came to power. It’s is hardly surprising, nobody said it all had to be done at once.
Besides, it doesn’t take a genius to recognise that a minortiy administration will never be able to do everything they said they would … it’s not like they have a massive majority they can use to force through every whim they may have. Although based on Westminster that seems to be a carte blanche to simply £$%^ things up good and proper. Wendy, you should ask your pal, Gordon, about that.
Wendy has gallantly informed the people who are having their tax hiked that:
Let the message go our from Aviemore the “People’s party” will be the “People’s defence”.
Sadly though she neglected to point us in the direction of which party that might be, it certainly ain’t hers. She clearly wasn’t referring to the SNP:
And so it is no surprise that one thing the SNP could find money for, was the absurd “National Conversation”,
an invitation for every flag-burning blogger to rant and rave;
blame everything on the English,
and all at the taxpayers expense.
Absurd National Conversation Wendy? You mean talking to the electorate Wendy? I think you’ll find that it’s Labour that’s shafting the tax-payer deary, and nobody’s blaming the English … we’re all blaming you.
You see at the end of the day, it’s New Labour:
- who have led us to record levels of taxation,
- who’ve made it impossible for families to afford to raise their own children,
- who’ve raided the pension coffers,
- who’ve targetted the poorest in our communities to provide tax cuts for the rich,
- who’ve led us into illegal wars,
- who’ve propped up and supported nations of questionable integrity and human rights.
In short, it’s New Labour who have shafted us.
Oh. And Wendy, if you ever think you’ll be First Minister you really are as stupid as you look.
Related Links:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7330007.stm - Brown fights backbench tax revolt
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk_politics/7333496.stm - Pressure mounts over tax changes
