In its efforts to generate tax income, the government has caused another storm - in its own teacup. ConDem backbenchers are in uproar over the plan to introduce a £50,000 cap on tax relief for charitable donations.

But of course these are mostly the very same people who are in favour of cutting the taxes paid by the wealthy to the bare bone.

For them, the issue is simple: the rich should be able to use their "hard-earned" money (never mind that it's "earned" on workers' backs!) the way they want. On the issue of tax relief, their concern is that, instead of paying taxes designed to fund collective expenditure - let alone welfare - the rich should be free to make tax-deductible donations to "charities" of their own choosing.

Time to free society of its Victorian rags

Of course, Tory opponents of this cap argue that by reducing funding to charities, it will reduce the social services that charities provide. As if they really cared! Aren't they demanding, at the same time, ferocious cuts in the social expenditure of the state?

Not that there isn't some truth in their argument. Outside of the dubious pseudo-"charities", numerous charitable bodies have been substituting their "good works" for the failures of the state - ever since the launch of state-run health and social services after WW2. Indeed, without such charitable institutions, where would research into cancer and countless other diseases be today?

Likewise for the activities of a number of charities concerned with helping the aged and disabled - because the state has never devoted the kind of funding required to cater for all the needs of those who cannot afford to pay for private help.

And what about other services - such as financial and legal advice, adult education, etc., all of which used to be partly or even entirely funded by the state? Today all these services - which are needed more than ever during the current crisis - are being drastically cut, or even closed down altogether, because for the government, the bankers' "needs" come first! The real irony of it all is that government policy - the so-called "big society" - insists that these same charities should take over the social services no longer provided by the state!

And this is precisely where the real problem lies. Why should society be dependent on charity in the first place - especially in such vital areas as health and social care? Why should there be, in the 21st century, such remnants of 19th century Victorian Britain, when "charitable ladies", together with the Church, provided what little welfare there was?

Isn't this an indictment of the present form of social organisation, which, in fact, was always incapable of catering fully for the majority's needs? It is becoming even less capable today, despite the colossal increase in society's material wealth!

Capitalist parasitism is the real issue

This ever decreasing capacity to provide for social well-being became obvious under the Tories in the 1980s and more so, in the 1990s and 2000s under both Tories and Labour. Today, the ConDems are merely continuing this destructive process.

Before Thatcher, capitalists relied indirectly on the state machinery to help their parasitic profit-making, since it gave them cheap essential products (steel, coal), utilities and services. But since then, politicians of all creeds have been finding space for direct capitalist profiteering in every pore of the state's activity.

The mighty public corporations, built on public funds over decades, were turned over to shareholders, with workers and consumers footing the bill for the profits they are meant to generate. And now the postal services are threatened with the same treatment.

This process had already started to have a crippling effect on vital public services long before the present crisis. Yet the full cost of so-called "public-private partnerships" in the NHS, housing, education, roads, etc.., still has to be felt. It is like a mortgage on public sector budgets, designed to feed the profits of the big banks for 2 or 3 decades to come - in addition to the billions they have been given since the beginning of the crisis!

As if this was not enough, outsourcing of services has offered new ways for the profiteers to line their pockets - at the expense, again, of both workers and service-users. A galaxy of private parasites has blossomed, of which a typical example is A4e, the firm headed by Cameron's sidekick, Emma Harrison. As "job advice provider", A4e was caught red-handed exploiting the jobless, while being paid millions by the DWP! Nevertheless A4e has just been short-listed to take over the government's "equality rights" help-line! And now thanks to Cameron's Health Reform Act, private healthcare firms will be allocated a large part of the NHS budget - with the inevitable high cost to the population's health!

Capitalist parasitism is a plague that no amount of charitable activity can cure. We need a society in which social well-being is a right for all - and this can only be in a profit-free society!