Tax Credits = benefit-dependent society?

We need to ditch the whole current system and start again with a clear idea of what we are trying to acheive.

Oh, and a pittance of income from work.

Income-based JSA is also taxable, ooja, which is ridiculous as you can't have any other income besides perhaps some income support or CA from a partner to get it.

imsonottelling; defo. A simple points system and one benefit. Soooo much easier. But then there would be less pens to push!
Why any benefits are taxable is beyond me.

expatinscotland - "Because some of these count as taxable income and others do not." but that SHOULDN'T be the case. Agree somethings need adjusting for local conditions, but that doesn't need to be done by councils. Or councils could administer everything else. If www.entitledto.co.uk can do it why can't the government.

The whole tax and benefits system is too complicated and deliberatly obfuscated.

'It reminded me that I was wondering the other day why they don't just have one dept for everything. So everyone fills in one detailed form and they dish out whatever they are entitled to. Be it state pension, winter fuel allowance, tax credits, JSA, whatever.'

Because some of these count as taxable income and others do not.

Also, for things like housing benefit/local housing allowance, these needed to be turned over to local councils so that rates can be adjusted for local markets and needs.

Sorry haven't caught up but just saw foureleven's post.

It reminded me that I was wondering the other day why they don't just have one dept for everything. So everyone fills in one detailed form and they dish out whatever they are entitled to. Be it state pension, winter fuel allowance, tax credits, JSA, whatever.

This method of having loads of different depts and loads of different forms and making it all terribly complicated is enormously expensive and puts off some people who really need the benefits.

DH says they make it hard to apply to discourage fraud but I'm not sure how that works TBH I think he may have gone a bit random on that one. Even if they did get a bit more fraud they could cover it with the huge cost saving in admin, printing forms etc etc etc.

That's what I reckon anyway.

At the moment it seems to cumbersome, with all these different agencies collecting the same information over and over, never sharing it and then losing it on the bus etc.

And, personally, I worked part time and was in receipt of ctc and then I changed to full time and it has worked out ok. I did not think I won't work full time because my credits will get cut. And yep, sorry but they help with some of the childcare I pay which is more than my rent and just over half my salary. It is only my salary that comes into my home and I have two children.

My vote is not purely on ctc, it is on education for my children, how safe myself and my children are, our housing, what their prospects and futures will be, their health will be and of course the access to all these things.

Just wondering, those of you wanting to change tax credits, do any of you recieve it?

it is meanstested on your income!!

It does depend on the number of children, their age and how much your child care is.

What I've learnt recently from mumsnet is that a certain amount of money may seem like loads to one family, and a pittence to another.

This £50k figure, to me, is a huge amount of money! I would be more than happy, comfortable and well off with just £20k. But for people in a different part of the country, £50k might leave them struggling to make ends meet!

The main differences in cost seem to be housing (here you can rent a large 3 bed semi for in the region of £500 pcm, but in other places, even a 2 bed flat would be twice that at least!) and childcare costs which also seem to vary greatly depending on where you live.

So it seems impossible to be able to distinguish a sensible cut off figure when there are so many individual factors to take into account.

I'm not doubting that people are truly deserving and in need of their tax credits but it does seem ridiculous that employers (in both the private and state sectors) don't pay their people a sufficient wage to live a decent life. Labour have allowed this to grow into a very serious problem for the state.

Altogether now.... MEANS TESTING!

I think it is almost impossible to just place a cut off at a certain level. It depends on things like number of children, level of childcare etc.

A family earning 50k with one child and no childcare costs do not need extra support.

A family earning 50k with perhaps one disabled child and two others with childcare costs of £1000 + a month may need extra support.

As a lone parent of one chld, I receive almost as much in tax credits as I do in wages. I work 30 hours a week as a teaching assistant. Without tax credits I would only have 700 pound a month to live on! IE, impossible, especially as the tax credits also pay towards the out of school club my son goes to before and after school hours. My salary is so low that even if I paid no income tax it would not equal the amount I get in TCs.

Maybe in the SE average salaries are better but here in the SW prices are as bad as london but wages are less than 20k on average. Here a loss of TCs would be disastrous for many.

As usual, the rest of the UK gets ignored!

Yes, tax credits do make us dependant. I would rather be paid a decent income and for all childcare to be subsidied at source. As it is, I have no choice. It's not worth my while getting paid more unless I get paid A LOT more, because if I WORK HARDER I GET PENALISED, however , in the current system, No TCs would mean abject poverty.

*good

CaptainNancy - in theory, I could work full time, yes. However, in my search for a job for the last 5 months, I have not found one single full time job that I am able to apply for. Reasons being that I can't drive - a lot of jobs require you t have a driving licence and access to a vehicle. The main reason is that I'm not qualified enough for them or don't have relevant experience.

I feel incredibly lucky that I've managed to find a part time job that I can do and that I will love getting up for in the morning, and that I'm able to do because tax credits will enable me to be better off than being on income support.

I don't have a support network of family and friends that can help with DD and so am limited in what I can do. I don't see doctors appointments etc as a reason for not being able to work full time - my parents managed fine when I was a child!

Maybe the amount of tax credits and what they pay for is wrong, but I, like others, wouldn't be able to come off income support without them.

As I said, I'm also studying for a degree, and when that's completed I have every intention of(and look forward to) going into full time employment.

Part time work for me is a short term thing, as I'm sure it is for many other single parents. I'm getting off my backside, getting off income support, getting a degree and returning to work, surely that's a god thing?!