Social policy dynamo Naomi Eisenstadt on childcare,IDS and what the Scottish government should achieve approximately inheritance taxNaomi Eisenstadt, first director of Labour’s certain Start Unit and now independent advisor to the Scottish government on poverty and inequality, and delivered the first Poverty Alliance Challenge Poverty Lecture in Glasgow yesterday evening. As one would expect from a woman at the forefront of some of the most successful and influential social policies of the past few debates (Eisenstadt was also director of the Social Exclusion Taskforce),the lecture was hugely informed and peppered with stories of frontline experience. How open? Yes, [Nicola Sturgeon] is open. It’s a pleasure. I would say power to the elbow rather than kick in the shins. And I think that’s the way to get things done. Im like the world’s greatest shmoozer. whether I think there’s a chance then I will schmooze like crazy to make good things happen.
I’m pretty optimistic. I’m certainly a lot more optimisitc than I am down south. I’m not optmistci at all approximately Ian Duncan Smith. All the schmoozing in the world isn’t going to work.”Dare I say it in this room, and the main driver on inequality is income tax and until you’ve got full income tax powers you won’t be able to solve inequality. whether you observe at the countires that are more equal,they have much higher rates of income tax at the top stop. The other main driver of inequality that is absolutely toxic to politicians -and my guess is your very progressive Scottish government won’t agree to it - is inheritance tax. There should be a whopping considerable inheritance tax. The fact that I own my house is approximately the luck of how old I was when it was affordable to buy a house, but the advantage of that my son carries through his whole life because he knows he will inherit”. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com