Ian Duncan Smith, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions certainly opened a can of worms last week when he suggested that wealthy people in receipt of state benefits should hand them back if they don’t actually need them. A non-UK citizen following this story from afar would probably scratch his head in bemusement and wonder why it is that the State would hand out benefits to wealthy people in the first place.
As for Mr Duncan Smith, he doesn’t seem to have much knowledge of human nature if he really thinks people will voluntarily hand money back once the State has placed it in their bank accounts. Some may do but the vast majority? No chance. That said, I understand his thinking and I’m sure many people will agree with much of what he suggested.
The obvious problem with benefits for all – universal benefits – is that some people will quite clearly have no need of them. It strikes me as ludicrous that a multi-millionaire pensioner can still receive a bus pass, winter fuel payment and even a state pension when he needs it about as much as an Eskimo needs a fridge freezer! It is surely all a question of degree. The whole point of a welfare system is to ensure that the State does as much as it can to eliminate poverty and suffering among its disadvantaged citizens, drawing a line below which nobody must be allowed to fall.
I can see that pensioners, having worked hard all their lives and having dutifully paid their taxes and national insurance, should reap the benefit of that hard work by receiving benefits from the State once they have retired. Quite right too, it is they who have helped create the nation’s wealth, such as it is. It is all a question of degree and I use the example again of a multi-millionaire receiving benefits. That is not what the system was planned for.
Surely the obvious solution to this problem is to have a proper system of means testing so that no benefits are paid to anybody with a yearly income of over £100,000, for example. Something needs to be done however and our politicians need to engage in meaningful debate rather that just simply slag each other off and point score. We are in a recession and we can’t afford to waste a single penny. It’s not just politics, it’s common sense.
Common Sense 