AIBU to claim child benefit?

[tooposhtopost]

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?

I will state again that I am fully aware that I have no need whatsoever of CB. And, thanks for asking, my private healthcare will not be in jeopardy without it....we earn several times more than we can spend. "Need" was not what I was asking about.

The whole purpose of this thread was to ask whether the amount of tax we pay should be a matter of personal morality or whether we should all simply act within the law and claim / pay whatever we are entitled/required to. What shocked me this morning was hearing the minister saying he hoped higher rate taxpayers would "voluntarily" stop claiming CB before the change in law. To me, that is like saying he hopes they will voluntarily pay more tax.

If we need to pay tax, then let it be charged centrally by the government. Let it not be a matter of conscience. Surely we have moved on beyond charitable workhouses and have a society with a tax system to avoid that kind of reliance on goodwill to fund our benefits system?

Yup. People claim it as long as they let you. This government is bonkers.

We will lose CB under the new proposal. Problem is, it means it is not worth me going to work. We currently pay £1200 a month for child care (don't get the assisted place as we have no family support or wrap around care and therefore can't send DS to local pre-school.)

Take home after child care is very little so the CB DOES make a big difference. Without it, no point in working as would be virtually break even by time I've paid tax, NI, child care, petrol etc. may as well give up work and stay home - will not notice difference materially, although government will be short of a fair bit!

The CB we receive is used towards the high cost of childcare (which we get no support for). We don't have an extravagant lifestyle - would love to pay for music lessons, horses etc etc but prefer food on table and clothes on backs.

As always, it is the 'middle' that get hit again! We are encouraged to work hard and improve ourselves only to be smacked over the head for doing so.

Poogles yes your situation sounds exactly like ours. Our CB at the moment goes towards childcare so I can afford to go to work it's ridiculous. I wouldn't mind losing the CB if nursery places were better funded.

Agree with that tooposh. It shouldn't be a matter of conscience.

OP says "What shocked me this morning was hearing the minister saying he hoped higher rate taxpayers would "voluntarily" stop claiming CB before the change in law. To me, that is like saying he hopes they will voluntarily pay more tax."

He did not say that. He was speaking about stopping claiming in 2013.

here

Sorry, try again! here

Schulte - it would help if thingsw ere made more equal! I get tax relief for on £243/month for child care but DH doesn't as he works for a small employer who won't run the scheme.

Where we lived before paid the assisted money towards the cost of the private nursery. We moved to an area where they don't do this and so therefore have lost £1500/year towards childcare and now they want to take away my CB????

I may as well stay at home, although the government will find themselves a bit worse off - I pay over 3 times as muc in tax and NI as I get in CB!!

What strikes me as unfair, or just odd, is that the tax system is in place to deal with the disparity in peoples earnings. In other words, if you earn more, you pay more tax.

The child benefit was a universal benefit and I don't see why higher tax payers should be taxed yet again, and removing the benefit is a form of tax.

The anomaly of how it will be implemented worries me, as I said on page 3. Two partners each earning 42K each will still get the benefit, and yet another coupe where one partner works but earns over 43k will lose the benefit, even though they have an income far less than couple a. It's unfair.

YANBU - doesn't seem fair at all to me. Two incomes at £40K = £80K get CB but one income of £44K doesn't. Again, probably not worth me working - how is this supposed to encourage people to try? Why should someone with one income just over the threshold give up their CB voluntarily when there are people out there with nearly double the income entitled to it? Please tell me I've misunderstood.

Will couples with, say, higher earner and lower earner be able to claim tax credits that the dual higher earners cannot? This may even things up.

olderandwider

This is cut and pasted from front page of BBC News:

People will be expected to declare on their tax returns whether they fall within the 40% and 50% tax brackets and the money will then be clawed back through the tax system.

However, Mr Osborne urged top-rate taxpayers to stop claiming child benefit altogether, saying this would be the "most sensible" thing to do.

George Osborne is not asking parents to do anything before 2013.

I listened to him on R4 this a.m. and he in no way suggested people stop claiming CB before they have to. (See my link above to the interview)

NOt sure I completely agree with the reasoning regarding not taking from the state because your kids are privately educated and have private medical insurance. Aren't the teachers and doctors trained by the state....

Now, tax credits... there's a crazy system suitable for a whole new thread. ...if only I understood them

Will the government really be worse off if you give up your job poogles and perfumedlife? I get what you are saying otherwise, but surely if you didn't do your job then someone else would, and the tax would be paid by them instead of you? The only difference I can see is that your childrens nursery will need to employ fewer workers.

tooposh, you suggested that he was asking for CB sacrifice to be made "before the change in law". And he hasn't said that. Listen to the interview rather than reading the summary on the website.

Olderandwider - no I don't think so. I thought tax credits were no longer being paid where household income was over £50k.

What a fucking cock-up, it's probably not going to happen but the tories get a "we HRT payers share your pain headline".

Sorry meant to say, "your childrens nursery will need to employ fewer workers if the person that replaced you had no preschool children."

Muffint - 40K and no other earner might still claim then?

amothersplace, yes, they are trained by the state, which is funded by taxpayers. But, for example, I have had some serious health issues happen these past three years and , because I pay for health insurance, I am not taking up a lot of NHS time and resources by going private.

It was my own GP who said, 'think of it this was, for every consultant you don't see, someone on the NHS waiting list will get seen quicker'

If I send my son to private school, I am saving a state funded place of 6k a year. If only i could claim that back and put it towards the school fees