[Jaymoss]

The day they put the state pension into the welfare budget the vilifying of those on welfare exploded

My father has good personal pensions but he locks down on the state pension even though he does not need it as he paid into it and so on.

He started on his soapbox about how the welfare budget was now more than the income tax take but then refused to accept the state pension itself makes up over half of that. And when you include those on housing benefit and pip it increases the difference even more

For years those is power have tried to make those on benefits pariahs and it is working.

All this and my limited understanding makes me think it is all BS and propaganda because if the Welfare budget really is higher than the income tax take then how the feck does the country run . I just do not buy it

Personally I think it is inevitable that the state pension becomes means tested and I understand why but I know the boomers and forgotten generation effected even though in reality they have enough to live on easy (not alll but some) I know it was all paid for over the years but it has all been spent long ago so it also has to come out of the tax take but for transparency I would rather see it not included in the welfare budget