THE PENALTY OF THRIFT Sni,—May I cite my case (only
too typical) to Sir Stafford Cripps as he broods over his new Budget ? Though my husband and I started our married life penniless we determined not only to pay our way but to save a little in order to secure solvency in our old age. Through hard work and abstinence we were modestly successful, but now the solvency is in doubt. In our active, working days we paid gladly and proudly for our children's births, maintenance and education, and now we are taxed to provide these benefits for other peoples'. We likewise willingly supplied ourselves with spectacles, stays, doctors, doses and dentures out of our own cash. Now we are compelled to contribute for those, not only for the blameless needy, but for the shameless greedy.
The sole urge of our betters in Westminster seems to be " give 'im the money" irrespective of its source or even of its existence, but where is the money to come from when the present jack-pot is empty? The new- vintage rich have no tradition of being so patiently soakable as the old, or as the independent middle-class. That this problem is imminent. is borne in on us as we examine our personal debits and credits, for if the present rate of taxation continues we shall soon be quite literally " not worth a tinker's cuss."—Yours faithfully, ISABELLA MC.RAE. Daramona, Bartzton, Edinburgh.
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