The working camel's State-sector burden

Here’s a great ‘twofer’ offer for every private sector employee: a State-sponsored dependent of your very own.

At least half the country now lives off the State, leaving real working people to carry the whole burden.

There are 26 million private-sector workers. Their taxes sustain 55 million adults in Britain.

Of the country’s 13.1 million pensioners, 1.2 million rely solely on the state pension to get by while 5.2 million receive public sector pensions (almost all unfunded and paid out of general taxation).

Then there are 10.6 million people on working-age benefits, largely universal credit and disability benefits but including housing benefit, jobseekers’ allowance, employment support allowance and so on.

The Government itself employs 6.1 million people in the civil service, the NHS, local government, police, armed forces, railways and so on.

Add at least 106,000 asylum-seekers and we get 23.1 million people – 42 per cent of the adult population – directly dependent on the State.

On top of that, it’s reasonable to include 1 million people working for State-backed charities and 2.4 million in the State-subsidised arts bringing the total to 26.5 million.

Even this excludes hideous public-sector projects like HS2 so it’s clear the State provides for at least half the nation’s adults.

This means every single wealth-creator (ie someone who earns money which doesn’t come one way or another from the taxpayer via the Government or tangled web of offshoots) must carry one State-sponsored dependent.

Yet Rachel from Complaints wants to add more straws to the camel’s back. The last straw can’t be far away.