Am I not the cutest girl ever?
I blog about topics that interest me. These topics will include an eclectic mix of statistics, economics, politics, and philosophy. My background is in Statistics and Accountancy. I have also taught in higher and further education.
I hope my posts will be brief, to the point, interesting, accurate and illuminating. Comments are welcome.
Personal Allowances The UK income tax system ostensibly gives all income tax payers an identical allowance which exempts the first slice of an individual’s market income from income tax. This exemption is known as the personal allowance and is set by parliament each year. For the current year it stands at £11,500. Basic Rate (20%) … Continue reading
Purpose of this piece This piece proposes and illustrates a scheme whereby helicopter money can be delivered within existing legal and accounting constraints. It shows that it is legally and technically feasible to deliver. Legal constraints The chief legal constraint is on the UK government which is forbidden to borrow from its banker, the Bank … Continue reading
There is no “magic money tree” Continue reading
Background A recent Guardian piece by Declan Gaffney asserts that a Universal Basic Income could not replace the UK’s social security (or welfare) system. The piece can be read here: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/10/finland-universal-basic-income-ubi-social-security A basic income that replaced the UK’s social security system would need to be so generous that it would disincentivise the jobless from looking … Continue reading
Introduction In this piece, I show how government spending on capital projects can be beneficial to the private sector. The demonstration shows the oft-cited objection to government spending, so called Ricardian Equivalence, is not correct. I use an example, which hints at the proposed HS2 rail project, to make my point. I also use accepted … Continue reading
Introduction I am a proponent of Negative Income Tax (NIT). I am because it can deliver social security via a basic income, because it is simple and cheap to administer, and because it is libertarian. In this piece, I try to set out why implementing NIT in Britain does not require any radical surgery to … Continue reading
In a previous post, I proposed a formula for calculating income tax that would provide for a negative income tax. I did so because I believe a negative income tax system would be simpler, fairer, more humane, technically more feasible , and cheaper to develop than the current Universal Credit project being rolled out by … Continue reading
