A new capitalism
Sir: May I suggest a slight but significant amendment to Nicholas Davenport's public unit trust scheme? (4 June).
The aim – capitalism for all – must surely be backed up by an investment consciousness so that the operation does not merely resemble a state distribution of largesse. The twenty million families should not be handed a given amount of loan capital and asked to do nothing more than sit back and 'see it appreciate'. This is reminiscent of the very Welfare State mentality which 'capitalism for everyone' should be destroying. Rather we should require, or at least encourage, the new capitalist families to add to their shareholding by, say, £50 per year (equaf to two packets of cigarettes per week!) by reducing the tax payable on any dividend in proportion to the additional units purchased.
I for one hope that Messrs Kelso, Adler (should they still be alive), Speiser and Davenport may soon see some real progress in the direction which they have so long been advocating.
Rodney E. B. Atkinson Alderley, Meadowfield Road, Stocksfield, Northumberland
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