The Forgotten Deficit of Social Justice

Every evening on the news, we are reminded of the fact that Britain has a massive economic deficit. This is reinforced by the notion of hard times and austerity that the country is currently going through, along with further threats of future cuts and public service strikes. Although it is widely accepted that this deficit is in need of being tackled (all three main parties were committed to the tackling deficit in their 2010 manifestos) we mustn't lose sight of another deficit that has been looming over the United Kingdom for more than the past 30 years. This is a deficit of social justice. We in the current climate of austerity may find it easy to believe that now is not the best time to be promoting social justice or seeking to combat the economic inequalities between the poorest and the richest. In many respects given our current economic climate, it may be believed that social justice has become the forgotten deficit.

Between 1979 and 2009 the gap between the richest and poorest grew. (graph six, http://www.poverty.org.uk/09/index.shtml?2). In 2009, the income inequality gap was higher than at any time in the previous 30 years. Also in a decade from 1999 to 2009 the average income for the poorest 10% of the population decreased by 12% whereas the average income for the richest 10% increased by 37% (graph one, http://www.poverty.org.uk/09/index.shtml?2). These statistics show quite clearly that in previous years the gap between the richest and poorest has continued to grow. Since 2009, Britain has embarked upon a period of austerity designed to tackle the deficit in Britain’s economics. Although it is necessary to ‘balance the books’; they should not be balanced on the poorest people in our society.

It is evident that one factor in the current economic hardship was the excesses and risk-taking practised by many banks and bankers, which almost led to the collapse of the financial industry and which led to costly bailouts and fiscal stimulus. Given that the overwhelming majority of the economic crisis was not caused by the poor why should they have to pick up the pieces? It is vital in tackling the current economic circumstances that we don't further impoverished those who have been neglected from government to government over many decades. The poor may not have the loudest voice and they are often vilified in the right-wing press as being feckless, dole spongers or chavs but we mustn't forget our social obligations to them. No one in a rich western country like Britain should have to choose between feeding themselves and their families or choosing to put the heating on.

But what can be done to tackle inequalities in wealth given the current economic circumstances? The Coalition Government has shown flashes of social justice in their key policies such as to take almost 1,000,000 of the poorest people out of income tax and to attribute a pupil premium to the poorest children to ensure that they get the best start to their education. But this does not go far enough to tackle the long-term deficit of social justice. Any revenue reaped from taxing the bonuses of the bankers should be redistributed to the poorest who have suffered due to the bankers’ malpractice. The government should also regulate energy companies who try to hike their prices up unnecessarily, which can impact hard on poor families. Land value taxation may also be introduced to tax those wealthy individuals who own land and shift the burden of taxation of the poorest, as well as giving the government more resources to tackle the social and economic injustices faced by the poor. If progressive taxation and regulation was used in such a way to protect the poor and to redistribute the wealth from the richest it may go some way to help tackle the vast gulf in economic inequalities. Of course taxation and regulation are only parts of a potential solution; other things for consideration would be the socio-economic conditions that keep a poor person within the poverty trap. However, first we need to acknowledge at the highest level that tackling the gap between the rich and the poor is a major priority. The poorest should not have their opportunities curved by a lack of economic resources, and no rational government should bring about circumstances that would make the plight of the poor worse. In a time of austerity cuts we should not hurt the poorest more than the richest. While tackling the deficit in our economy we must not yet again forget about the deficit of social justice in our society. Social justice is an issue that needs confronting and we cannot allow it to be neglected any longer; the opportunities of future generations should not be determined by the circumstances of their birth and their lack of resources but by the range and scope of their talents.