Great work by my former colleagues at the think tank Reform today. In their latest report, they’ve figured out that the cost of “middle class benefits” to the Exchequer is some £31 billion. In other words, £31 billion worth of maternity pay, child benefits, fuel allowance and other transfers are dished out to middle income earners each year – that’s around a quarter of all spending on benefits.
Writing in the Times, Andrew Haldenby says that these middle class benefits should be an obvious candidate for cuts. It’s hard to disagree. If we’re all in this together, then it seems slightly perverse that money is being given out to people who – in many cases – don’t strictly need it.
Besides, you’ve got to remember that this money is taxpayers’ money – much of it paid by those same middle classes in the first place.
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