Britain, Collective Action - association of anarchist communists: Budget 2013 brings us more smoke and mirrors

Populist measures used to hide a pat on the back for bosses and even the TUC turns against 
workers. ---- It?s the most wonderful time of the year! Who am I kidding? The weather 
sucks, plenty of us can?t afford to turn the heating on and to top it off George Osborne?s 
been smirking in the papers holding up his red briefcase containing all the evils of the 
world. (That?s Pandora?s box ? Ed.) ---- So what does Ozzy have in store for us this 
spring to cure those winter blues? The headline being touted is an advanced delivery of 
the Lib Dems? flagship policy: a raise in the Personal Tax Allowance to ?10,000. This 
populist move appears to benefit everyone, especially people on low incomes. However, any 
support for the move should be critical.

The impetus for the new PTA is to create effective demand, i.e. getting people spending, 
which puts the money we?ve saved through lower taxation into the pockets of businesses on 
the High Street.

Furthermore, the package will act as a state subsidy for poverty wages, meaning businesses 
do not have to raise wages in line with inflation. Interestingly, our politicians of all 
stripes neglected to inform us of the Office for Budget Responsibility?s calculations that 
this year real wages (adjusted for inflation) are down 10% since summer 2010. Of course 
the tax break on earnings also deflects attention away from the hike in council tax, which 
helps the government direct the blame for cuts to public services onto local government.

Noticed your boss looking chirpy this week? It?s not just because he can afford 24 hour 
heating! Osborne has announced that bosses will be rewarded with a ?2000-a-year cut in 
National Insurance contributions, amounting to a ?1.25bn tax break. Bosses will presumably 
have the option of either pocketing the saving or putting more people to work on poverty 
wages to fuel the company?s profits now that everyone?s got a bit more to spend. Just in 
case bosses weren?t sure whether or not Christmas really had come early, Osborne ensured 
no mistake could be made by slashing corporation tax to 20%, which is the lowest rate in 
the G20.

And for the rest of us? 1p off a pint of beer. Cheers, George!

Sounds like a joke? Unfortunately it isn?t. This is George Osborne trying to show how 
in-touch he is with the plebs. Sorry, ?Britain?s hard workers?. Wondering what the hell?s 
going on? Having ditched the ?Big Society? project, which I?m still not sure most of the 
front bench ever really understood, the coalition?s new rhetorical device is the 
?Aspiration Nation?. Catchy, eh? The idea as it?s presented is that if we all knuckle 
down, work hard, do ?the right thing?, abide the law, marry suitors of the opposite gender 
and have well-behaved children (though not too many, you benefit scrounger), we can all be 
upstanding individuals with healthy bank balances. Who says politicians are out of touch 
with the real world?

First in the government?s blueprint for the ?Aspiration Nation? is to make us all property 
owners. As we may by now suspect, this is not the kind gesture it may appear to be. The 
government is shelling out ?3.5bn over three years in shared equity loans ? indicative of 
serious pump-priming. The idea here is to buck the trend towards private rents, which 
currently risks increasing demand towards social housing and deflating the housing stock. 
Of course it?s no problem that house prices are spiralling; the government will just help 
us take on more debt. This measure has an added bonus for the government; encouraging 
growth in the ?home-owner? demographic will pay dividends in years to come. Typically 
conservative, economically-stable and individualistic, who better to vote in the next Tory 
government?

Feeling up against it? Fear not, the trusty Trade Union Council is on our side. TUC 
general secretary Frances O?Grady said, ?This budget is the wrong answer to the wrong 
question. We face a jobs, growth and living standards crisis.? Indeed, growth isn?t quite 
going how the government had hoped ? halved to just 0.6% this year. However, let?s just 
have a little look at the TUC?s stance on jobs. Recently the TUC announced in relation to 
the ?job guarantee? programme for young workers, ?Claimants who turn down a job guarantee 
job without good cause should face benefit sanctions?. It seems our friends at the helm of 
the union movement are all for Osborne?s ?Aspiration Nation? after all. We should be clear 
that advocating benefit sanctions supports the narrative of the unemployed as ?workshy? 
versus the ?hard worker?. This is a shameful piece of divide and rule manoeuvring on the 
part of the TUC, which serves to reinforce the ideological advancement of theories about 
the ?culture of dependency?, whereby unemployment is apparently a lifestyle choice. 
Clearly this does not account for the many valid reasons someone may not accept a job, 
whether ill-health, childcare issues, or indeed: not wanting that job!

I don?t think we should be surprised by anything in the budget. Clearly the government is 
adopting a pump-priming strategy of cutting taxation and stimulating the housing market, 
but with benefit sanctions, poverty wages, continued cuts to public services and the 
proposed welfare reform, it?s going to be another difficult year for the class and a busy 
year for class-war militants. Pint of beer anyone?

-CM.