Simple way to solve National Insurance row

There is a simple solution to the "tax on jobs" controversy (your report and analysis, 9 April) that may be too simple for politicians.

NIC is paid only on earnings up to 44,000 per annum and is not payable at all by those of us over retirement age; so such employees pay a higher proportion of their pay in NIC than do the more highly-paid, and an employee on the same income as a pensioner loses around 10 per cent more of that income than does the pensioner.

NICs should now either be ring-fenced in a genuine fund to meet future state pension obligations, or just merged entirely with income tax, and the employers' savings on their NICs paid in increased wages.

The latter, especially if combined with a tax-free allowance equal to the minimum wage (roughly LibDem policy), would be more equitable and would release thousands of bureaucrats in both private and public sectors into productive work.

JOHN BIRKETT

Horseleys Park

St Andrews

The Tories are conning people in claiming the increase in National Insurance contributions will kill off the recovery. The increase is not going to happen for another year, when the recovery should be well under way.

The Tories say the deficit should be cut immediately, when the recovery is still fragile. But they don't say how, and they keep adding to the list of services they will protect.

So, George Osborne now has to fall back on "efficiency savings", though he refuses to put a figure on that – not surprising since the government says it is already making 15 billion in savings this year.

The other con is that the NI increase will cost jobs. The Tories and big business claimed that in 1999 when Labour introduced the minimum wage. It didn't cost jobs.

But unscrupulous bosses no longer get away with exploiting workers by paying only 1.99 per hour.

HENRY L PHILIP

Grange Loan

Edinburgh