Tax Facts

Here's a few simple, basic economic facts, just for those that don't know: 1. The more something is taxed, the less of it there will be. 2. The more something is subsidized, the more of it there will be. 3. The true wealth of an economy and a nation is not money, but it's productivity and resources. Money means absolutely nothing at all if there is nothing to trade it for. (I mean, that's the essence of inflation isn't it: the money supply expands to where there is more money than the supply of goods, hence why the money becomes worth less, in a simple nutshell.) Now with those facts in mind... With Adolf Drakeford's unconditional giving away of tax payer's money "free" here in Wales under the Welsh government's pilot UBI scheme, many people will now receive £1,600 a month for doing absolutely nothing at all. Whilst many others busting their guts working 40 or more hours a week won't even earn that much. They are hit by taxes on their labour, that are set to be hiked up even further. So, Drakeford has removed the incentives for many to actually work and produce anything towards the economy by subsidising them to do absolutely nothing by doling out to them free hand-outs courtesy of the tax payer, thus diminishing economic output and productivity. On the other side of the coin, productivity is being punished by taxation that is set to become even harsher, in an already tough time where the cost of living has been ramped up due to government induced inflation, "green" levies and taxes. As with a lot of politically motivated policies that may produce immediate gratification for certain groups in the present here and now, the true consequences, harm and damage comes a little later on (exactly like we're seeing now with the present issue regarding the cost of living - this hasn't happened over night). Politicians don't care however, as they simply pander to voters in the present, relying on their short-sightedness, ignorance and apathy, by bribing them with shiny "free stuff". Why worry about anyone else or any other time, as long as you get that little hit of what pleases you right now? As Keynes himself said: "In the long run we are all dead."

Gareth Seward, fellow libertarian.