ABSTRACT
In evidence to the Meacher Sub-Committee enquiry referred to, and in subsequent publications Professor Patrick Minford and colleagues at Liverpool University have compiled proposals for privatisation of health, education and social insurance and for coordinated tax and benefit changes. Minford's "Efficient Relief of Poverty" comprises a conditional Negative Income Tax (NIT) for people in full-time work, a capped subsistence income linked to compulsory workfare for the unemployed, and privatisation of pensions, health and education. Tax relief on mortgage interest would be time-limited, at a saving of £700 million by 1990. The poverty threshold is the break-even point at which NIT is phased out, and people start to pay income tax. The minimum NIT payment for working families with children is based on former total income support at earnings of £60 a week in 1985–1986, and can be higher than 70 percent of the poverty threshold.
