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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to claim child benefit?

275 replies

tooposhtopost · 04/10/2010 09:23

This morning, I heard a minister being interviewed (didn't catch who) saying that he hoped that 40% tax payers would "do the right thing" and stop claiming child benefit.

The top earners already pay 50% tax, get no tax relief on our pension contributions and often do not overburden the state (eg private education for the DC, private healthcare).

I have always claimed CB - well, it arrives by direct debit. I have seen it as a tiny weeny small rebate of tax in recognition of the fact that we have the extra cost of having children who will be the ones supporting all of us when we get old. So should I be disclaiming it?

Who else would like to know if any government ministers (or their wives) claim CB or whether they are leading by example and eschewing it?

OP posts:
sarah293 · 04/10/2010 09:59

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ornamentalcabbage · 04/10/2010 09:59

We would still be eligible for it as we are not higher rate taxpayers but we would manage if it was taken away.

lovechoc · 04/10/2010 10:00

Cerealoffender I like your style on this thread.lol. tell it like it is.oh dear it must be tough for some paying 45 pounds for shoes.

olderyetwider · 04/10/2010 10:01

Trouble is, purpleduck, we all have different views of what we 'need' and our expectations tend to rise as our income increases. It's very difficult to establish what is a 'need' and what's not

NordicPrincess · 04/10/2010 10:02

since when did the gov give us cb to sponsor malawian children? think youve got the idea of child benefit wrong there. I cant afford to sponsor children abroad, my cb is for my children and my family designed to help support children here. If cb was there for alturistic charity it would be called the sponsored children abroad fund, everyone must have one you know....

Chil1234 · 04/10/2010 10:03

I'd think I was going soft in the head if I turned down free money. MPs can make grand, pointless gestures if they like, no-one's stopping them.

octopusinabox · 04/10/2010 10:03

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olderandwider · 04/10/2010 10:03

OP, I don't think George Osborne was saying stop claiming CB immediately. If I heard him correctly on Radio 4 this a.m. he said that, from 2013, higher rate tax payers should stop claiming CB, or have it clawed back through their tax coding.

I think it's tough if your earnings just push you into the 40% bracket, but, well, there were always going to be winners and losers.

gapbear · 04/10/2010 10:04

Need: food, shelter, warm, basic clothes, electricity etc

Luxury: shoes from Clarks / Start-rite, music lessons, CT Fund, sponsoring children in other countries, organic Fair Trade coffee etc, wine, holidays away

laweaselmys · 04/10/2010 10:05

Could not help snorting at Malawian child.

The problem is, OP that if you just sent your DC to state school you could easily afford these luxuries. And thus you clearly don't need the money!

Lavenderboo · 04/10/2010 10:06

'CHILD TRUST FUND!!! Every child born between 2003 and 2011 has one.'

Hmm

Yes but people who really need CB use it for essentials. Most people cant afford to put CB aside in savings/ trust funds.

Schulte · 04/10/2010 10:07

This is the problem I have with it. All my earnings go into childcare fees as the dds are still very young so I have decided to give up my job from January. DH is just above the threshold. So we will struggle. My dds wear second hand clothes and we haven't been on a proper holiday for ages so we're hardly amongst the ones who receive the benefit and send their kids to private school. But we'll be hit.

MaMoTTaT · 04/10/2010 10:07

"Music lessons- we're talking about one child who's actually rather good at her instrument in a county with no music service. WWYD?
"

I would get them to apply for a place at a specialist music school, or a private school with a music scholarship. That's what my parents did. I was rather good at my instrument and my instrument isn't offered in any county music service in the country afaik.

and @ £45 a pair.

£7.99 from shoe zone for us.

oh and - I'm on benefits right now, but still mamange to scrape together the money to sponsor a child as well. Wben exH and I were both working with a combined income of £26k we sponsored 3 children

And actually - it is a right to be able to have a family.
Biscuit

duchesse · 04/10/2010 10:08

Does any of you (apart from Riven whom I know does) actually have teenage children? Do they still accept to wear Clarks or Startrite shoes to school?

MaMoTTaT · 04/10/2010 10:09

oh and I buy fair trade tea, coffee and sugar. You don't need to be earning enough to pay 40% tax to be able to work those into a budget. I do that with a weekly food shopping budget of £60 for 4 of us.

constantlytired · 04/10/2010 10:09

High earners don't need CB...if this cut means that they can leave other benefits alone, such as disability benefits alone, then i'm all for it. My mum is disabled, lives in pain every day of her life and has been trying to put away a couple of pounds a week from her small allowance "in case they take it away from me"....gets me so mad, saving £2-3 pounds a week so she has peace of mind that she can afford to pay electricity bill and eat....so i'm afraid i have no sympathy with anyone moaning about it being taken from them when they should already consider themselves relatively well off. [rant emoticon off]...Its all about perspective, and maybe getting some.

Original poster
tooposhtopost · 04/10/2010 10:10

"these are luxuries not necessities, and the government should not be subsidising them for you"

Hmm I am not sure of the precise figure but anyone earning less than about £60,000 a year is a net beneficiary of the state.

There is no such thing as "government" money. The money paid out in benefits comes from high earning people working jolly hard and and, ahem, sharing it with the rest of you (through paying taxes). That is only right. We do not want to live in a country where the incapable, uneducated, ill or unlucky are left to starve.

My point is that CB for the wealthiest is in no sense a "subsidy" by the government - it is a small rebate of the massive taxes they already pay. If that is not enough tax, then increase the rate of tax through act of parliament. Don't tinker with CB as it is a beautifully efficient system to administer and understand, and signals the importance of being parents.

OP posts:
sarah293 · 04/10/2010 10:10

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MaMoTTaT · 04/10/2010 10:10

well teenage children are generall in adult sizes - so it's adult shoes they were.

My children will wear the shoes they're given - even as teenagers. They don't need fancy expensive shoes (though it would be nice to buy some better quality ones than shoe zone)

Vallhala · 04/10/2010 10:10

Duchesse, would you like to come to my house and see that the choice is between paying the fucking oil heating bill or the electric bill?

Would you like come to this lone parent household and to see inside my DC's wardrobes and note the lack of £45 shoes because it's that or putting food on the table?

There are no music lessons in this house, despite genetic talent (one of the world's most famous concert pianists in the family). I have the choice - after school entertainment or FOOD.

I honestly don't think that your family account books and my family account books would bear any resemblance to each other, and I equally honestly think that others might be more supportive of me than someone in your position.

And please other posters, I see that the "envy of those with higher earning power" card has already been played... please, don't be so insulting. Envious of high earners eh? That's why I've been in a relationship with one for the past 10 years is it? God, I must really hate 75% of my friends, how very dare they hav more money than me!

sarah293 · 04/10/2010 10:11

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sasamaxx · 04/10/2010 10:11

I think it's fair enough to stop CB for high earners, but think it would be fairer if it were based on household income, rather than individual. I could have picked it up wrong but it looks like in households were 2 parents work and earn over £80K, they can still claim....???
Wouldn't it be fairer to make it based on a household income of something like £50K???

MollieO · 04/10/2010 10:11

My ds goes to private school. I am not rich. The cost of his fees are the same I would pay if he went to a CM before/after school and holidays. In fact it was significantly cheaper to pay school fees when he was in reception and now in yr 2 it is still cheaper. Only when we get to yr 6 will the cost be equal to what the CM wanted to charge. I just creep into the 40% bracket and no help with childcare costs and no one to do childcare for free (ie a SAHP).

gapbear · 04/10/2010 10:12

MaMoTTaT - you miss my point. It is a luxury to have Fair Trade whatever. I also work them into a budget of £60 a week - but that's my priority. It's not a necessity, it's a preference.

duchesse · 04/10/2010 10:12

Moma- no specialist music schools nearby- option to send her boarding at Cheatham's but she wouldn't want to board.

And Shoezone shoes last approx 45 minutes before splitting on my H width foot children. False economy ime. Even my next door neighbour who is on benefits has found this with her son. Unless you can afford to spend £7.99 every week or fortnight, £45 for a whole academic year is rather good.