|
|
 |
| |
Poisoned chalice?
• I WAS surprised to read so many letters with a simplistic view of what is involved in the “free school meals versus council tax freeze” argument (Tax freeze or free school meals? You have your say, February 20).
It is true that people with very little income are already helped with their council tax, so that a freeze would only help medium- and higher-earners.
It is also true that children from low-income families are entitled to free school meals, so it would seem the main beneficiaries of universal free school meals would again be medium- and higher-earners.
But it is not as simple as that. There are many families caught in the familiar trap of being just above the cut-off point for free school meals and struggling to find the money on a Monday morning.
They often send their children with a packed lunch. Cheaper, but perhaps not so nutritious.
Many children entitled to free meals cannot face the humiliation of handing in the special vouchers, or otherwise being singled out as “free dinners”. They too often take packed lunches, to avoid the teasing from other children (yes, it does happen – we all remember the thoughtless cruelty that children deal in at times). So there we have two groups that would undoubtedly be in a better situation than they are now.
As for the idea of medium- and higher-earners unfairly benefiting from free midday meals at primary school, it is well-known that means-testing is expensive, time-consuming and often embarrassing for claimants. That chore, and the unfairness, would be eliminated if all families enjoyed the same service, releasing more time (and perhaps even money) for more useful purposes. Schools would benefit from their children being united as consumers of the same menu and having the same status.
And let’s not forget that we have got used to all older adults receiving a state pension and winter fuel allowance. Why not get used to all primary children receiving the same nutritious food?
A council tax freeze may be on one side of the accounts book. What might be on the other side? Will more public buildings be sold off? Library opening hours shortened? Youth provision or care for the elderly cut back? Council employees laid off? It’s an uncertain bonus at best, and could be a poisoned chalice.
JAN WHELAN
Cheverton Road, N19
• I DON’T know why anyone would be advocating putting up council tax at this difficult time. It looks to me as if the Labour Party in Islington is returning to the same high, irresponsible levels of spending that got the borough into so much debt when I first moved here.
Free school meals for Boris’s kids? For all the rich people in Highbury and Barnsbury? If we were going to use a tax rise for something, I would support the Liberal Democrat policy of smaller class sizes in schools.
Most kids don’t even like schools meals anyway, and they aren’t that healthy. A good packed lunch doesn’t cost much.
I’m a single woman who works hard. I have just got a job for the first time and pay council tax. I don’t have kids because I can’t afford them. So why should I have my tax put up to pay for everyone else’s kids, when the poorer kids get free school meals anyway.
MICHELLE O'CONNELLY
Kingsdown Road, N19
• “COUNCIL tax freeze or free school dinners?” It’s a false choice. Free school meals for all pupils is the civilised way forward.
If free dinners are only to be made available for the poor, where is the cut-off point to be?
To argue that the poor would be subsidising rich families is a red herring. The answer is to tax the rich parents more, but that can’t be done with the present unfair council tax system of raising local revenue.
There should be a forceful campaign to change the council tax (which benefits the rich) to a local income tax, whereby the higher the income, the more tax is paid, with those on a very low income paying little or no tax.
PAT WAGLAND
Brecknock Road, N19
• SUPPORTERS of the council tax freeze appear to argue that their proposals are fair and equitable, yet are not prepared to clarify who are the winners and the losers.
What impact would the freeze have on the health and wellbeing of the poorest in Islington? It would not help those on benefits.
One suggestion I believe would receive a great deal of support is to means-test the rich, anyone whose income is £100,000 or more a year. The ones who will make the greatest gains will be those whose properties are in the highest bands. If you live on a typical council or housing association estate the freeze would save you about 80p a week, the equivalent of two pints of milk. If you live in a more expensive property you might save as much as the cost of two bottles of wine.
There is a lot of support for small businesses in the current climate but what isn’t clear is how the proposed freeze benefits them. Does the proposal have any impact on commercial and business rates?
JOHN WORKER
Priory Green estate, N1
• THE benefit of free school meals for all primary schoolchildren is not so much about feeding the poor as about improving nutrition. In any case, wealthy families in Islington tend to educate their children privately.
Take up of school meals is much higher where they are provided without charge. This allows more children to eat a meal that will benefit their health without relying on what busy parents can produce under pressure of time and advertising.
At a time when obesity and the health problems that go with it are on the rise, the importance of a nutritious midday meal for all children is more apparent. As a community we need to invest in the good health of our young people.
VIRGINIA LOW
Queen’s Head Street, N1
• LABOUR’S “free lunch” campaign for primary school kids is a gimmicky bit of spin that would push up council tax for everyone.
The government gives extra funding to schools in deprived areas, but uses the number of pupils registered for free school meals as the basis for allocating cash. If the taxpayer footed the bill for everyone’s lunches, fewer or no children would register for them formally – causing a real loss of education funding.
The policy might also cause people from other boroughs to rush into Islington schools to take advantage of the generous multi-million pound offer.
CLLR PAULA BELFORD
Lib Dem, Canonbury ward
|
| |
|
 |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
|
