There is now a 1 % levy on incomes over £40K or rather on earned incomes. But that makes little difference. N.B. it is only on earned incomes and not on pension - big political difficulties here. DSB
One important factoid is that the NI tax is zero for incomes of 40k+. According to my good friend Charles Everett in
today's York Press, this means that nearly 9 billion UKP p.a. is lost as a result. With this saving we could invade another five dictatorships before Christmas. (I simplify!)
This regressive nature of NI tax will hopefully become more evident now that Osborne has raised the question of whether to/how to merge NI and income tax.
(A small diversion into hegemonic discourse theory: should we start calling it "NI tax" instead of 'NI gcontributions'?)
JOHN BIBBY
On 25 March 2011 14:42, BYRNE D.S.
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hi All
Help wanted. I am looking for data on the actual cost of National Insurance benefits i.e. the benefits which fall within the frame of being available in return for contributions on a non-means tested basis and therefore are fundamentally based on pooling of risk or inter-generational transfer.
The figures I can find do not seem to distinguish between the costs of the NI entitlement and related means tested benefits which are social assistance in form so I can't find for example the cost of the basic NI old age pension as opposed to a cost which seems to be both for that and for means tested pension credits etc.
The figures I have, which in my view compound the insurance and means tested elements, are:
Pensions £81.9 billion
Sickness and incapacity benefits £32.3 billion.
Unemployment benefits £5.5 billion.
NI raises £101 billion so with the means tested elements taken out it may actually be making a surplus or I may be wholly wrong here.
Advice and guidance to more detailed figures much appreciated.
Thanks
David Byrne
****************************************************** Please note that if you press the 'Reply' button your message will go only to the sender of this message. If you want to reply to the whole list, use your mailer's 'Reply-to-All' button to send your message automatically to [log in to unmask]. Disclaimer: The messages sent to this list are the views of the sender and cannot be assumed to be representative of the range of views held by subscribers to the Radical Statistics Group. To find out more about Radical Statistics and its aims and activities and read current and past issues of our newsletter you are invited to visit our web site www.radstats.org.uk. *******************************************************
****************************************************** Please note that if you press the 'Reply' button your message will go only to the sender of this message. If you want to reply to the whole list, use your mailer's 'Reply-to-All' button to send your message automatically to
[log in to unmask] Disclaimer: The messages sent to this list are the views of the sender and cannot be assumed to be representative of the range of views held by subscribers to the Radical Statistics Group. To find out more about Radical Statistics and its aims and activities and read current and past issues of our newsletter you are invited to visit our web site www.radstats.org.uk. *******************************************************
