FIrst Couple of Bits I'm NOT Happy With

In the main I'm quite impressed with the coalition agreement, there are some bits that are really not cool though.

The two standout ones are the 55% required to dissolve Parliament and the retention of the employees NI increase without any changes.

The first is a pretty cynical attempt to ensure the other parties cannot curtail the 5 Year Plan, it's also going to be the headlock the Tories hold the Lib Dems in, as they'll no doubt explain that an early dissolution will go badly for them at the polls and their only real hope to keep any kind of powerbase will be to woo over those embittered at them allying themselves with the Tories.

I can understand why they've done it - they're doubtlessly worried about the remnants of the Rainbow Coalition playing silly fuckers - but it's hardly a wonderful introduction to a New Politics is it?

The second, the employees NI increase, negates some of the planned increase in the Tax Allowance lower limit.

Obviously the cash needs to come from somewhere to alter that limit, but it strikes me as foolish to rob Peter to pay Peter.

One of the thing I'd like to see happen is a staged NI system, so the better the pay the person is on, the more the onus of paying it is being passed to the employee rather than the employer. Yes, it's redistributive of me to say that, but since NI is allegedly for the benefit of the employee and not Just Another Bloody Tax (realistically that is precisely what it is though), the employee should pay the bloody thing!

It would also have the twofold effect of making employers do a bit of math where salary raises could actually save them money as the NI payments would pass from them to the employee, and the employee noting just how much NI costs and wondering "what the fuck is this getting me?"

A rejigging of the NI system would buy them a lot of friends at the low pay level (who may then forget about Labour) and at companies who employ plenty of well paid staff (who'll see their business NI rates fall), whilst making a few enemies of the upper quartile of income (dropping the 50p band would mollify them somewhat) and providing payslip-level evidence that the whole system is something of a Ponzi scheme.

That could just provide the platform to change the damn thing.