Against savings
Such ministers as Mrs Williams and Mr Jenkins, commonly thought of by journalists and even by voters as moderate, respectable and better in kind than rabid left-wingers like Mr Benn, have further conspired in what is perhaps the most determined, sustained and deliberately thought out assault on the principal Characteristic of any stable society that we have ever seen in this country. We refer to the propensity to save. Mr Jenkins has more than once publicly stated his support for the principle of a wealth tax; and a Wealth tax, as Mr Healey has made clear, since it will in its operation be virtually indiscriminate, will make it well-nigh Impossible for the ordinary citizen of this country to save wealth, to keep it, or to Pass it on to an heir.
Mr Foot, the supposed libertarian of the Labour Party, has announced an investigation into the activities of everybody earning more than £10,000 a year. Even now E10,000 sounds like a great deal of Money; but in a time of escalating Inflation, likely very shortly to run at over twenty per cent per annum, it is quite simply not so. It is almost impossible to avoid the contention that Mr Foot merely Picked what seemed like a largish sum out of the air and set his bureaucrats to work to investigate it. We would note, too, that no grounds for the investigation are being offered: there is merely a general and frivolous announcement of a decision to Pry.
Previous page
