This is today’s front page from the Guardian
Assuming that the research is even half right, and it surely can’t be that far out, these are quite startling figures. The graph showing £58.2b paid out in corporate subsidies set against the corporate tax take of £41.3b most catches the eye. The standard “trickle down effect” justification – subsidies generate tax income which benefit us all – does not seem to hold, particularly against the declining, year-on-year take from corporate profit.
The papers obvious budget day comparison is the cost of direct subsidies alone, £14.5b, against the proposed £12b cuts in welfare spending.
A similar comparison to the proposed savings from all recent legal aid cuts is barely worth making.
Do remember that we are “all in this together”.
