CORBYN TRIES TO BRIBE US WITH OUR OWN MONEY.

It is clear that Jeremy Corbyn has only way real policy as the election campaign enters its final week and that is to buy votes.

Promises to abolish student fees and an indication that a Labour government might also cancel existing student debts are policies aimed directly at buying the votes of students, though at a huge cost to the country in general. Other promises to provide extra resources to the NHS and to schools while nationalizing an assortment of services mean billions of pounds would have to be found from higher taxes and / or increased borrowing.

What no one seems to have pointed out is that all this money that a Corbyn-led administration would commit has to come from somewhere. As has been pointed out, there is no magic 'money tree'; governments have no money of their own, all they have is what they can wheedle out of the people. Every penny that governments spend comes from us, one way or another.

Income tax and national insurance, VAT, insurance premium tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, council tax and corporation tax; tobacco duty, alcohol duty, vehicle excise duty, fuel duty, stamp duty, air passenger duty, gambling duties, all manor of environmental taxes and duties, business rates, assorted levies and heaven alone knows how many more.

This vast array of taxes, duties and levies all take money from the people who often seem to forget that taxes paid by business are ultimately passed onto their customers. In the end, all taxes are paid by the people, all of the people and not just those who can easily afford to pay them. Sometimes, we pay tax on top of tax, as with the VAT charged on top of the fuel duty added to the cost of fuel and, of course, the basic price of the fuel includes an element to enable the producer - BP, Shell, ESSO etc. - to pay their employer's national insurance, corporation tax and so on. We all pay more than enough already without allowing a Corbyn government to rob us of still more.

Even when governments hide their financial excesses by borrowing instead of taxing, the people still pay. Borrowing incurs interest charges which the people pay annually through their taxes. It also incurs debt which has to be repaid over a number years, meaning that future generations can end up paying for the services and benefits enjoyed by the current generation, surely the ultimate and most pernicious con-trick perpetrated by governments. In the end, someone has to pay though today's politicians don't worry about that as they won't be around to carry the can.

All Corbyn is attempting to do is to bribe us with our own money. He will happily promise to spend whatever he can get his hands on but it's all smoke and mirrors. Don't be fooled and don't let this conman loose on our economy.