Ross sticks his head above the parapet and suggests that Poor Widows In Mansions would be doing themselves a huge favour if they traded down, as this would free up a lot of cash for cat food, and suggests that the Mansion Tax might be just the thing to nudge them into doing themselves such a favour.
The first Poor Widow Bogey is played within minutes, "But it's her house, where she and her husband raised their family. She's lived there 40-odd years. She's paid for it. Why should she move?", which Ross parries rather deftly.
Tolkein then ups the ante: "There's also the likelihood that the move will kill her. Uprooting at 75 will be traumatic in a way it won't be for someone in their 30s." Wow, that settles the matter then, doesn't it: "We can't have a Mansion Tax because it would be a death sentence for tens of thousands of Poor Widows In Mansions."
Crikey, nobody is suggesting that little old ladies be forced to schlepp all their heavy furniture themselves, there is such a thing as "removal companies", you know, and to minimise stress, maybe the rest of the family can put her up for a week while the actual move takes place, then all they have to do is drop her off at her new place, which need be no more than a few hundred yards from her old one, or a lot closer to whichever of her adult children cares most about her, eh? That sounds a lot less stressful than e.g. going into hospital, doesn't it?
Finally, we get this: "Why should she have to move? Her quality of life could go down, as well as up!" Let's try reverse logic, using Ross' own figures:
a) If your Elderly Relative owned a house worth £300,000 and had £500,000 in the bank, would you advise them to use every penny to trade up to an £800,000 house?
b) If you really feared that a move would kill your Elderly Relative, or that no amount of hundreds of thousands in the bank would enable them to improve their quality of life, is it too much to ask the potential heirs to pay the tax for her?
Once I dipt into the future
3 hours ago
4 comments:
Good one
They forgot to ask how cruel it was to leave them without an unearned income? I actually got this from a wealthy 'actual' poor widow the other day. She is under great stress because her son cannot find work nor a home.'The bloody welfare scroungers are ruining the country'. What you mean like your son, er, and you?
If the opponents to mansion tax really meant it they would show how it was bad for all dwellings. Ditto for its supporters. Its not Lvt. Its a very very bad idea politically and practically.
Robin,
It's thanks to morons like you that the LVT has got nowhere.
AC1
Ac1
That's the best attack I've had this week. You might be right, but perhaps you would like to show exactly why I deserve it?
I've found Lvt has failed because its politically impossible in the modern day. This is what lvc's try to address. mw's token idea is pretty much a copy of this. Good idea.
Mw. Slaves also get paid wages, contrary to popular myth. Else they would die. The lowest wage is just enough of the produce of their work to keep them alive and working. The rest goes in rent/tax/mortgage interest to the land/slave owner.
That sounds a lot less stressful than e.g. going into hospital, doesn't it?
...and indeed the stress of going into hospital is sufficient that it does kill off many elderly people every year (quite aside from the fact that hospitals are nasty germy places full of sick people).
The problem, of course, is if you're ill enough to need to go to hospital, your odds aren't great if you decide to just stay at home.
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