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Welfare state 'taxes poorest 96p for every £1 they earn'
Paul Waugh, Deputy Political Editor8 Oct 2009
Welfare system built up under Gordon Brown, has left some people on low incomes facing a tax rate equivalent to 96p for every £1, David Cameron claimed today.
He said it sent out completely the wrong messages to people to try to get off benefits and find work or to stay together as families.
Mr Cameron added: "In Gordon Brown's Britain if you're a single mother with two kids earning £150 a week... the withdrawal of benefits and the additional taxes mean that for every extra pound you earn, you keep just 4p. What kind of incentive is that?
"Thirty years ago this party won an election fighting against 98 per cent tax rates on the richest. Today I want us to show even more anger about 96 per cent tax rates on the poorest."
Mr Cameron also attacked the Government's record on debt, accusing Chancellor Alistair Darling of irresponsibility.
"Our national debt has doubled in the last five years," he said. "It is a massive risk to our economy. If we spend more than we earn ... We must pay down this deficit. The longer we leave it, the worse it will be for all of us."
