"That the cost would be an insuperable difficulty, for to grant 5s. a week at age 65 in respect of the population of England and Wales only, would involve about £20,000,000 per annum for the present recipients, and by 1941 the figure would have risen to £36,000,000."
In "Riches and Poverty," edition 1905, I said:
"Our examination of the National Income and the manner of its distribution disposes of this objection. The question resolves itself into this—Ought the 5,000,000 persons who have an aggregate income approaching £900,000,000 to be taxed to the extent of £15,000,000 to provide pensions for the aged poor? If the facts illustrated in the frontispiece of this volume could be brought home to every elector there would be no doubt whatever as to the decision of the country on the subject. With the gross assessment to Income Tax at £900,000,000 the expenditure of £15,000,000 on a small provision for the aged strikes one, not as extravagant, but as an exceedingly modest proposal to mitigate the evils of the Error of Distribution.
"I have named £15,000,000, and that is all that the scheme would cost. It is not a universal superannuation scheme that is wanted; I find it difficult to regard very seriously the proposal that, for fear of "pauperization" we should pay every person, rich and poor, aged 65 and upwards, the sum of 5s. per week. The idea appears to be that if the scheme is not made universal some stigma will attach to those who are pensioned. Surely this is an exaggerated view. The majority of those aged 65 are poor, just as the majority of the whole population are poor. If there is a stigma in such a case it attaches to those who go to form the top part of my diagram—to those whose absorption of an undue share of the national income connotes poverty for millions at the other end of the scale.
"My own feeling is that we should make the pension, like the superannuation benefit of Trades Unions, claimable by those aged 65 and upwards who have not an income of more than £1 a week or property valued at more than £250. We should then probably have to provide for about 1,400,000 to 1,500,000 pensioners, at a cost of £18,000,000 to £20,000,000. Administration would cost about £500,000 and we should save about £4,000,000 in poor rates. Thus the net addition to taxation would be about £15,000,000."
Mr Asquith's Old Age Pensions Act of 1908 made the receipt of an Old Age Pension a citizen right, claimable by every person filling certain statutory conditions. These conditions are:—
(1) That the person must have attained the age of 70.
(2) That he is a British subject.
(3) That his yearly income does not exceed £31, 10s.
The receipt of poor relief (medical relief excepted), habitual idleness, lunacy or conviction for crime, are statutory disqualifications.