Sanctus – The government’s attempts to downsize the share of GDP generated by Government spending have been greeted by the market with great enthusiasm, according to Treasury Secretary, Deputy Prime Minister Jason Reid. This is coupled with a marked increase in private industry profits, with its share in the Sanctarian economy rising from 26% to 49.9% only a few months after the government announced its restructuring of spending.
Reid announced the findings at a press conference where he also disclosed the tax intake was up 2% year-on-year, almost 0.5% more than Treasury Department analysts had predicted. “The Sanctarian economy is proving reliably robust as we execute our mandate to severely decrease government spending vis-a-vis GDP indicators”, Reid said to reporters. “Employment is actually still on the up, which is frankly the opposite to what we expected, and the average household wage has also increased significantly, so average Sanctarians actually go home with more in their pockets thanks to employment opportunities from new and emerging industries.” Reid later explained industries were growing more in Sanctaria do to relaxation and repealing of outdated business regulations, as well as potentially harmful taxes.
However critics have claimed that not all is sunny in the garden. “The average household wage has indeed risen, but so too has income inequality”, said Deputy Leader and Treasury Spokesperson of the Democratic Left Party, Deputy Niamh Winters. “The poorest 10% in Sanctaria now only get on average S£35,000 – that’s a decrease of almost S£25,000. The Sanctarian Conservative Party has abandoned this country’s poor to the dogs because it wanted to jump into bed with big industry – they’ve totally gutted minimum wage laws supposedly in the name of cutting spending and increase profits to corporate Sanctaria, all so they have somewhere comfy to retire to.”
The government has played down the dramatic increase in income inequality by pointing out that “employment has increased, so the poorest 10% are actually far fewer than they were a number of years ago. Also to note is that the average tax rate has also tumbled, meaning more people have more money to spend as they wish”. Reid also confirmed that the SCP Government would continue with their reforms until GDP generated by private industry far outweighed that generated by government, “it’s a process we’re determined to see through to conclusion”.
ALISON HUGHES, Finance Editor
