This Christmas, spare a thought for Britain’s forgotten hardship cases — the people who get up every morning, go to work, pay their taxes and still can’t afford to live comfortably.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Britain has a new charity case.
The working taxpayer.
These unfortunate souls can be found scraping ice from their windscreens at five in the morning, putting another £50 of petrol into their cars and heading off to work to earn enough money to do exactly the same thing next week.
And what does the government offer them?
The privilege of paying tax on their earnings, National Insurance on their wages, fuel duty on their petrol and VAT on much of what they buy.
What a wonderful reward for keeping Britain running!
Let’s examine the Christmas miracle of working for a living.
Take someone earning £12.71 an hour, working 35 hours a week.
Their monthly wages are approximately £1,928 before deductions.
After Scottish income tax and National Insurance, they take home roughly £1,685.
Now deduct £160 a month for travelling to work.
That leaves £1,525.
And they haven’t paid their rent, mortgage, council tax, gas, electricity or bought a single loaf of bread.
Now consider an eligible claimant receiving the higher Universal Credit health element alongside the maximum enhanced disability payments.
Their combined monthly entitlement can be approximately £1,698, before housing support.
That is £173 more than our worker has left after travel expenses.
Please sponsor a struggling worker this Christmas.
For just £5, you could help a warehouse worker put enough petrol in the car to get to tomorrow’s shift.
For £10, you could help a care worker get to the people who depend on them.
For £20, you might help a working family keep their heating on for another evening.
And for £50, you could help someone pay the parking charges they incur simply for turning up to work.
Every little helps.
Because apparently, having a job is no longer a guarantee that you can afford the basic necessities of life.
Meanwhile, back in Westminster…
Politicians continue to remind us that work is the route out of poverty.
An interesting theory.
Perhaps they should try living on the wages of the people who clean their offices, deliver their parcels, stock their supermarkets and care for their elderly relatives.
Perhaps they should explain why someone working full-time can still need financial assistance to pay their rent.
Or why a parent can work additional hours only to see much of the financial benefit disappear through deductions and additional costs.
And perhaps they should explain why working people are expected to absorb every increase in fuel prices, energy bills, housing costs and taxation without anybody asking how much they actually have left.
Because the real measure of a person’s financial position isn’t what they earn. It’s what remains after they’ve paid the price of earning it.
A very special Christmas message to the government.
Instead of another lecture about the importance of hard work, perhaps ministers could deliver something genuinely useful.
A tax system that leaves lower-paid workers with more of their earnings.
Affordable transport for people travelling to work.
Childcare that doesn’t consume the financial reward from another shift.
And wages that reflect the actual cost of living.
Not another slogan.
Not another government announcement.
Not another promise that things will improve eventually.
Just a system where someone who works hard can afford to live without constantly worrying about the next bill.
So this Christmas, please give generously to Britain’s struggling taxpayers.
They’ve spent the entire year contributing.
They’ve paid their taxes, filled their cars, turned up for their shifts and kept the country operating.
And when they’ve finished helping everybody else, perhaps somebody in Westminster might remember to help them.
Merry Christmas, Britain.
And remember, if you can’t afford to donate, don’t worry. The government will collect its share from your next payslip anyway.
THE TAXPAYER RELIEF FUND
Because in modern Britain, sometimes the hardest part of having a job is affording to go to it.
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