Also, don't forget that the 50p
rate was never a LibDem policy or priority, but increasing the tax free allowance to # 10k for people on low to middle incomes was a key manifesto commitment (higher
rate tax
payers get
less of an increase + those earning over # 100k get no tax free allowance).
It is worth noting that while people under age 65 in the U.S. live in a heavily market - dominated economy where poor employment outcomes mean poverty and a lack of access to health care, almost everyone over age 65 has most of their healthcare paid for by Medicare, (a FICA tax financed, single
payer system that pays providers more or
less the same
rates as private insurance companies and has few cost controls), more than half of their nursing home costs paid by Medicaid, (which is stingy in how much it pays providers and moderately means tested), and receives enough of a guaranteed income from the combination of Social Security and SSI payments to keep the poverty
rate for people age 65 +, (even if they have no retirement savings of their own), above the poverty line, regardless of the state of the local economy.
In the 21 states that currently have mandatory agency fee laws, unions determine how much they spend on political activities in their overall budget and then deduct that percentage from their standard dues
rate, which generally means that agency - fee
payers end up contributing around 20 %
less than full union members.