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"The Possibility of Progress" (Mark Braund)

Mark is an occasional writer on Comment is Free (often on LVT related economics issues) and author of a recent book called "The Possibility of Progess"

Why do the IPPR want to make things even more complicated:

The think tank is suggesting several reforms to combat the problem of what it calls the "forgotten million", including:

• A new Personal Tax Credit Allowance to make it more attractive for both adults in a two-parent family to work. The second parent would be able to earn up to £100 a week before their tax credits are reduced, a move the IPPR says would make a family earning the minimum wage £36 a week better off.
• Raising the value of tax credits for couples by one third to £91.31 a week. The IPPR says this would benefit 1.6m families and lift 200,000 children out of poverty.
• Increasing the minimum wage in line with average earnings growth, ensuring tougher enforcement of the minimum wage, and extending the adult rate to people aged 21 and under.

Kate Stanley, head of social policy at the IPPR, said "significant progress" had been made since 1997, but the challenge now was "to ensure that work really is a route out of poverty".

The way to make work the route out of poverty is to make it pay in every case, on top of a basic non-withdrawable universal income  and by abolishing the disincentive to create work embodied in the Minimum Wage, as promoted by Chris Dillow , discussed at Compass , and even with some approval at Bloggers4Labour , the Citizen's Income . And it was formerly Liberal/Lib Dem policy to boot.

"By day, mild mannered Chartered Tax Advisor. By night, ruthless tax and welfare simplification campaigner. Rabid libertarian. Not ashamed to be called an Islamophobe."

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