To think that too many people rely on Tax Credits?

[workhardplayhard]

Reading many of the threads on Mumsnet it seems that a large proportion of contributors rely on Tax Credits to top up their incomes.

I don't know anyone who claims Tax Credits IRL but if I did I don't think it would change my opinion - I think people should be fully responsible for providing for their own offspring without any benefits.

I have stated on a previous thread that I DO believe that people should get some assistance if their circumstances change ( Redundancy/Ill Health) but only for a set period.

I don't think the government should pay for people to have multiple children that they can ill afford to provide for.

I would be interested to hear other views.

Im a full time mum and my dh works full time bringing in the money. We are entitled to tax credit and yes I need it. But I only get £30 a month, not much. I personally use the money to pay for my lo playgroup sessions.

there seem to be quite a few of you out there who are of the opinion that only people of a certain socio-economic background should be allowed to have children. What next? Only those above a certain IQ? Or perhaps only those of a certain physiognomy (tall, blonde hair, blue eyes). Are there those among you who would have preferred to discuss favourite biscuit types with Adolf Hitler rather than Gordon Brown?

Speaking for my own family I have to say that Tax Credits have been a lifeline for us as two of our three children have special needs, so I have been a stay-at-home mum as I am needed most here and no employer would tolerate the amount of time I would have had to take off, often at short notice.

minimum wage it not enough to live on,food prices are rocketing,private sector rent is increasing.
dp works 6 days a week and brings home

it should read is

silly little prol,cant even spell,no wonder ive got no money....

If prices did not keep going up so
much many people would not have to rely on tax credits, I presume you have children op and are financially well off ? What would happen if a couple who were rich had multiple children then somehow lost their fortune? Should the children be taken off them since they could no longer afford them ? A bit like repossesing a house or car . Where does it stop ? Personally I don't begrudge anyone the benefits they recieve ,I have been working since I was sixteen I have only just started claiming tc don't get very much at all but every little helps it has never bothered me what other people get because it is not my business . Are you a journalist op because what you have written is almost identical to something I read in a Sunday newspaper I just wish I could remember his name he was an elitist smug twunt too .

yabvu and that is all I have to say about that.

Op,I think you are being harsh actually, we have 1 child and both of us work hard but get a little tax credits to help us out. apart from child benefit.
We could have decided that neither of us were going to work and claim every benefit under the sun but that is not how we were bought up so we both work but to keep costs down we share childcare so we have no additional childcare costs to pay and we work round each other.
I would love to not need tax credits but some of us arent that fortunate.

Haven't read the whole thread and don't know very much about tax credits at all. But why shouldn't people be helped a bit if they are working to make it worthwhile for them?

How can you not know anyone on tax credits in rl op. Even if you live at the top of the hill and only rub shoulders with the rich, don't you strike up conversations with people locally, ie, in the supermarket, local shop, doctors, library, etc.. or aren't these people important to you. [hmmm]

Jeeez. Surely people are entitled to a decent standard of living, that is what Tax Credits are for.

If the wage is too low their income is supplemented.

You are clearly a snob.

Agree with OP . Why do people always expect the government (taxpayer) to bail them out. Expect too much, live within your means. Rubbish to say you would not eat without tax credits, use your child benefit!

Should people, perhaps, maybe, possibly, if they are already on a low income and being helped by receiving Tc - should they perhaps not ADD to their families?

Just asking, like....

[takes cover]

" but they didn't take anything out of the welfare system and there is an honour in that which I truly respect. "

oh yeah - we did that for a while. Were entitled to claim some benefits but we didn't - we were too proud. Stupid, stupid mistake looking back. Debts mounted, reposession loomed as we missed mortgage payment after mortgage payment, bankruptancy loomed. We managed to claw ourselves out of that position though.

But fast forward 5 years where did it get us?

Not very far really - exH is still saddled with the debt and the mortgage arrears - still a hairs breath away from repossession and being made bankrupt. I'm currently on benefits and even once I'm working will never be able to earn enough without tax credits to support me and my 3 DS's (2 of whom were born while were still totally solvent). See the thing is I didn't have a crystal ball 11 or 8yrs ago - and I couldn't see that I'd end up here in 2011.

geee sorry tyvzer that we had a contraception failure, and the MAP failed, and I couldn't go through with an abortion. Not that it would have made a blinde jot of difference - you still can't adequately feed and house 2 children on 12k a year (that's a full time minimum wage before the tax and NI is taken off)

Baroque - plainly a contraception failure meant you were not planning to add to your family with no means of support. I intended my post to refer to those who continually get PG with no thought of financing the child.

actually - I did want a 3rd child in the future - and that's part of the reason I couldn't/wouldn't have a termination. (exH didn't want another hence the reason I took the MAP and then nearly ended up as a single parent while still pregnant).

We were both working at the time (opposite shifts - me nights him afternoons/evenings - not sure how we find the chance for me to fall pg actually as we rarely slept in bed at the same time ).

I don't know anyone who has "continually continued to have children with no thought of financing the child"

oh - you mean those stereotypes you see in the daily mail who only make the news headlines because they the exception rather than the rule?

No. I don't read the DM.

I mean the people I personally know, the people I live amongst, the people I work with. Many, many people (and yes, I live on what's known as a 'sink estate' and yes, I claim TC, and yes, I am a single mum and yes, I live in a council house).

And yes - I personally know lots of people who have had or are trying to have more babies becuase they believe it is their right to have as many children as they want, and if you ask them 'can you afford another baby?' they'll say 'well, all the money goes up if you have more, doesn't it?'

I think it's always better to avoid state support if possible.

Not because it makes you morally superior, but because the state can change its mind at any given point.

Quite clearly, many are saying they rely of TCs, yet, quite clearly, they are going to be eroded by this government.

My dp works 40+ hrs a week gets £1050pcm, I recieve child tax credits which helps go towards the food shopping without it we would struggle we pay £550 rent, £120 council tax, £141 gas electric and water. And then there the many other things we couldnt afford a holiday or to run a car and I will not have another child because I know we cannot afford too. I dont see why i am harming you and your perfect life

I'm not arguing the case for not claiming, you see. Thank Christ for TC or I and my kids would be royally fucked.

So many replies here that I agree with!
Expats in paticular and this one too ohh and PigValentines too!

I love these debates started by people who think they're oh-so superior and terribly clever but undermine their purported intellignecy by not recognising that if any of their inane right wing Daily Mail endorsed suggestions (limiting the amount of time people can claim benefits / lone parents are forced into work when benefits stop) the negative effects on society as a whole would be catastrophic.

There will always be (a few) people who will take advatage of the benefits system, and no, maybe it isn't fair that you pay higher rate tax and have nothing whilst your neighbour is living in a six bedroom house with five flat screens and a brand new car, but life isn't fair, and I'd rather live in a society where the government will provide even the thinnest safety net, than one which won't, even if that means 1 person in 10000 takes the piss.

Yes I'd agree too many people are reliant on TC.

As for the rest of it YABU.

There are any issues as to why this is in this country, tax, VAT, living costs, housing costs, education cost, lack of further education, lack of well paid jobs.......I could go on.

The main issue is house prices rocketed so very few people can run a household on one income now as in general wages are shit in comparison to living costs.

Got to say, it's typical Labour, having people reliant on the state rather than address the issues. They meant well, but missed the root cause.

I dont begrudge people who work and claim tc because they are trying and ffs at least they are working, it just gets on my nerves when people have more and more children when they know they cannot afford it. its not fair on the children or the tax payers