Study shows gains for wealthier half of population, delivering a blow to George Osborne’s claims on

[JustExtreme]

[QUOTE]A landmark study of the coalition’s tax and welfare policies six months before the general election reveals how money has been transferred from the poorest to the better off, apparently refuting the chancellor of the exchequer’s claims that the country has been “all in it together”.

According to independent research to be published on Monday and seen by the [I]Observer[/I], George Osborne has been engaged in a significant transfer of income from the least well-off half of the population to the more affluent in the past four years. Those with the lowest incomes have been hit hardest.

In an intervention that will come as a major blow to the government’s claim to have shared out the burden of austerity equally, the report by economists at the London School of Economics and the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex finds that:
■ Sweeping changes to benefits and income tax have had the effect of switching income from the poorer half of households to most of the richer half, with the poorest 5% in the country in terms of income losing nearly 3% of what they would have earned if Britain’s tax and welfare system of May 2010 had been retained.
■ With the exception of the top 5%, who lost 1% of their potential income, it is the better-off half of the country that has gained financially from the changes, with an increase of between 1.2% and 2% in their disposable income.
■ The top 1% in terms of income have also been small net gainers from the changes brought in by David Cameron’s government since May 2010, which include a cut in the top rate of income tax.
■ Two-earner households, and those with elderly family members, were the most favourably treated, as a result of direct tax changes and state pensions respectively.
■ Lone-parent families did worst, losing much more through cuts in benefits and tax credits and higher council tax than they gained through higher income tax allowances. Families with children in general, and large families in particular, also did much worse than the average.
■ A quarter of the lowest paid 10% have shouldered a particularly heavy burden, losing more than 5% of what would have been their income without the coalition’s reforms.[/QUOTE]

Source: [url]http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/nov/15/coalition-helped-rich-hitting-poor-george-osborne[/url]

[Flapadar]

Better together?

[Thelurker1234]

D...d...don't worry!
It'll trickle down like a waterfall!

[MrEndangered]

Unfortunately, not a surprise. The amount of foodbanks and money loan companies on pretty much every highstreet is testimony to that. I don't utterly blame the Tories for the money issues, but they've failed to bring us any of their important promises.

[elix]

Meanwhile, all this gets blamed on immigrants or the EU.

If this wasn't hurting real people, it'd be comedy. Instead, it's just tragedy.