So R Webb thinks child benefits should be axed (Letters, February 27). This person also believes pensions are different as recipients have already paid into some sort of Government scheme.

Well, R Webb, you are way off the mark because practically all the money the state has received from us has been spent on clearing our debts after the Second World War (a grand total of £440 billion), finally paid off in 2005. Next, add in the cost of rebuilding the country post-1945, the costs of education and the NHS and the picture becomes clearer.

The biggest con, however, was the use of public funds to create decent standards of housing and energy generation, then run down so corporations could buy them for below the real market value.

None of this is the fault of any child I know of, yet the generation R Webb refers to is set to inherit record levels of debt. These people are the future, not the past, so surely it makes more sense (hypothetically speaking) to cut funding to pensioners, and give it to the people who will outlive the elderly.

Realistically, though, the best way for the Government to finance the social welfare system would be to close all tax loopholes so corporations can no longer “avoid” paying their dues. This alone would generate enough income to fund the less well-off for about 100 years.

In finishing, we all pay VAT at 20% (this alone is a tax on the poor) so we all have a right to a fair slice of the pie.

We should stop fighting stupid, pointless wars and using public money to finance private companies and invest the money in the future of all the children in this country as they will inherit nothing but abject poverty if we don’t.

Kenny Lloyd, Norway Street, Portslade