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.
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
Introduction Previously, in “Is Universal Credit the wrong approach?”, I proposed that a thoughtfully designed negative income tax system would be more effective in delivering UC’s stated aims. I believe UC is fundamentally flawed, primarily because it does not address the UK’s low and falling wages. The feasibility of designing incentives to make work pay … Continue reading
“Work doesn’t pay” is the oft cited justification for Universal Credit (UC). It’s not clear that rolling up six separate benefits into one single payment will address this problem, aka the unemployment trap. Wages in the UK are at best static and may have been falling in real terms over the last decade. Coupled with … Continue reading
I believe it depends on three things: How income is defined; The tax-free personal allowance; and The tax rate Realised comprehensive income In the UK there are three taxes that could be consolidated into a single income tax. These three taxes are Inheritance Tax, Capital Gains Tax, and the current income tax. All three levy … Continue reading
