Regarding the Treasury spokesman's comments on the self-employed, I have been self-employed since 1976.
May I remind him we pay for a National Insurance Stamp every week regardless of whether we have actually earned any money or made a profit.
I don't see how he can distinguish between earnings and profit for the self-employed as, after various stoppages and allowances, our "profit" is our take-home pay.
The spokesman does not mention the expense of our contributions to personal pension plans and permanent health insurance cover - which we need because we get a little more than £60 sickness benefit per week - which also come out of our "profits".
Also, I don't recollect my take-home income as having risen by 20 per cent in "real terms" since 1997.
Perhaps he would like to offer an easy-to- understand definition of the expression "real terms".
-Derek Ifould, Worthing
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