ABSTRACT
The core issues are: simplicity; the future of work; conditionality; family income support; tax expenditures; and pensioner incomes. There are complex problems, involving issues of parental responsibility and equity between one- and two-parent families, as well as the more obvious issues of adequacy and work incentives. Most would-be reformers accept the importance of simplicity, but tend to confuse administrative simplicity with automation. Lady B. Rhys Williams included conditionality because she recognised the strength of opposition to anything that might be said to encourage sloth. Family income support includes tax reliefs and cash benefits for dependent spouses as well as benefits for children. Family income support is intended to reduce the gap in living standards between families with and without children at all income levels. Lower paid jobs would become available because net income from work would always be worth more than the Balance Income on its own.
