Letter: Our welfare system must not be abused
I read the letter page every night and, at times, I am surprised at some of the opinions regarding the sale of council houses to sitting tenants.
In the 1980s I bought my house taking a loan from the bank. The interest rate was six per cent over 25 years. The council tenants did not pay as near as much rent as I paid for my mortgage.
Bearing in mind they did not pay for any repairs to their rented property, or improvements, such as replacing just a single wire fence running through concrete post borders garden fence to a proper wooden panel fence. Everyone had the same chance as I had, and must have been prepared to sacrifice something in life to get what they wanted to have – their own house.
The welfare state is a good thing, but is being used by some parasite members of the public for their own ends. It is not the Government who pays for such behaviour, it is the people who pay tax (workers). Remembering that everyone has a choice, and every one is a individual. The money has to come from somewhere (taxes).
History repeats itself, perhaps the people have forgotten what life was like during the war. Or they do not care what life was like then as long as they get what they want.
P Sherwood
Wellington
