Scrap it!
Sir: If ever a man earned his wages it is the miner at the coal-face harvesting energy for you and me. There is no better time to witness the injustice of the tax on earnings than when the collier discovers this loss from his pay packet. Our whole economy may be in danger next winter because an agreement concerning wages of /200 per week cannot be reached.
This may seem absurd, and it is. But the absurdity is the breaking of every wage agreement by the tax on earnings. A price is agreed for the job and it is never paid. The tax on earnings is a violation of every wage agreement that is ever made. The only ethical basis for any wage agreement must allow the worker to earn what he will and to keep what he earns. Rates of pay must have that basic agreement otherwise they are a fraud and a cheat. The tax on earnings was once outlawed in Britain. In 1815 Parliament declared this tax to be 'detestable, shameful and immoral'.
We can all recognise the truth of that statement when we see the British coal miner being robbed of his earnings by the taxman. Let us win justice for all who work, put an ace into the hands of the greatest leader the miners have ever had in Britain and put Tory principle into practice, by ending the taxation of earnings.
When Britain stops the practice of punishing its workers for working with a tax on their earnings, productivity will double and even treble. Every Budget in the lifetime of this Parliament should take a bold step in that direction. Northing less than abolition of the tax on earnings is acceptable as the final goal. Britain will no longer need to print money to pay its way and inflation will disappear. Inflation hits the lowest-paid workers hardest of all. Ending the tax on earnings will bring an end to the poverty created by inflation.
Let us use the inspiration, given to the nation by Joe Gormley, to reform an iniquitous tax. Let us endorse his stand against unreason by ending the tax on earnings. Tom Hooson, House of Commons, London SW1
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