The Telegraph Advocates Punishing The Poor.

In a well crafted editorial on its website today the "Telegraph" has outlined its reasoned argument against a mansion tax. Congratulating Vince Cable for his persistence it points out, however, that this unlikely to be rewarded since he seems to have completely misunderstood what the Tories mean by the word "fair." Raising taxes for the rich, it points out, would "make it harder for Britain to pull itself out of depression." Rich people faced by the prospect of paying tax, it seems, would immediately become less productive, imaginative and wonderful and, instead, become lazy, unimaginative and feckless. This effect is not apparent amongst ordinary people who are lazy, unimaginative and feckless already. It would be unfair, the "Telegraph" tells us, to prevent the better sort of person leaving their children as much money as possible since, as is well known, the children of rich people are inherently more productive, imaginative and wonderful than the children of poor parents. Yet the article begs two questions. If rich people are, by nature, productive, imaginative and wonderful - why do they need incentives to be so? And, if poor people are lazy, unimaginative and feckless, by nature, how does making them even poorer improve their attitudes? Has the "Telegraph" made the discovery of the century - that rich and poor people are actually two entirely different species of human being? And, if so, how can a member of one species morph into another by the simple act of reaching a different tax bracket? This is a mystery worthy to grace the pages of the "Fortean Times."