To think Tax Credits should be means tested

[bittertwisted]

I know I am going to come across as jealous and bitter with this one, but doing it anyway as fancy a rant, and willing to take the abuse for that privilege
My husband left me with 3 children to bring up, so far no maintenance because he is a f*wit. I am lucky enough to have a part time job that pays well, but still means my children have to go to childminder 3 nights a week and in school hols.
I find it really galling that I get the same child tax credits as women I know who get £3000 + a month in maintenance, plus private school fees. I think this is so unfair, particularly on my children who do not have their mummy to pick them up every day because I have to work.
I know they are doing nothing fraudulent, totally entitled to those benefits, but why is this fair? I am sort of in the middle because I am one of the few with a well paid part time job, what about women who have to work full time on the minimum wage, why should they get the same as women with these huge maintenance payments? I do not understand why more tax credits should not be directed to single mums in that situation.
This is not a 'single mums all have it easy living on handouts rant'. I am a single Mum and I know that is not the way it is. I just think it is incredibly unfair. And yes, I am only human, sometimes a bit jealous when I here they are off to lunch/ beauty treatments/ shopping whilst I am working then picking my kids up from the childminder.
rant over

gordy is paying for herself and her children.

the problem with getting more benefits for not recieving child maintenaince, is that this encourages family to get back handers from the absent parents (seen this many times, money on the sly was quite the norm when maintenaince affected benefits).
Also getting more money for the absent parent not coughing up, will probably encourage them not to cough up!

I just think they need to be WAY HARSHER on the parents who don't pay maintenaince. I know of one case where the CSA were supposedly chasing a guy for 8 years, knew perfectly well where he lived, he doesn't pay and still it comes to nothing.

your tax credits pay? - sorry I don't understand that?
If you mean that your tax credits pay for you then they are paid for by someone else, the corporate and personal tax payers of the country.

I didn't say I did, I work and I get tax credits, my tax credits almost certainly exceed the tax I pay, so at the moment I am a net taker from the system (although maybe not when I also consider council tax, VAT & fuel duties).

I still disagree that maint shouldn't be included in your household income when assessing whether your household requires state assistance in the form of tax credits.

Totally agree isthisnameavailable.

Gordy...tax credits are a benefit, which is funded by all tax payers.

YANBU. Tax Credits should be means tested so that only those that need them get them.

littlemisssarcastic that makes perfect sense, what a horrible situation to be in :o :(

damn that was supposed to be a shocked face not a smiley!!

gordy (and me) pay tax. We receive some tax back though tax credits, because we earn relatively little. I would certainly prefer the tax threshold to be raised instead, which would cut out a whole layer of expensive red tape.

However successive governments have chosen this system.

I AM a tax payer - because I get tax credits does that makes me a bad tax payer?

oh well I'll leave my job and be a SAHM and you can give me money to that - does that sound better

tax credits isn't tax back though, it is a state benefit for low income families.

I know that you are saying you pay tax - I am in exactly the same position.

And to go back to original post, I am always a bit puzzled as to how people know such details about other women's financial arrangements.

Tax credit isn't a tax rebate, no. But it is an acknowledgment of the scandal that is the UK's 'in-work poverty' and is available to workers.

I think its crazy that maintenance doesn't get taken into account, but there are loads of inequalities in these systems. Personally< I think all absent parents should pay maintenance via the CSA or simlar and that the penalties for non payments should be Huuuuuge. (Prison?) Then, maintenance could be taken into account for benefits calculation inTWO ways - the recipient would include it for income and the payee would deduct it for income.

there aren't bad and good tax payers - but surely it is easy to see whether in pure financial terms (not in terms of use of state provision) you are a net taker or giver to the state?

As I said, I think I am probably a net taker (but then when I thought about council tax, VAT and fuel duties that is probably not true, I am probably a net giver).

I also get maintenance, which is not accounted for when calculating my tax credits.

I think this is wrong - is I were in a two-adult family earning that same household income I would not get tax credits - where is the fairness in that?

I still stand by my opinion that tax credits are a benefit. It is not a proportion of the tax you pay, it is based on your taxable income, the lower your taxable income, the higher your tax credits (simply put).

I am unemployed atm and even I receive CTC. I do not pay tax on my benefit.

When I worked full time, I received more than £1200 a month in tax credits, yet I only paid £100 a month in tax.

exactly Linerunner - I'd rather earn more and not have to rely on TX - I'd rather my husband hadn't run off with another woman and left me with 3 kids - in an ideal world I'd live in a magic house surrounded by kittens and ponies and have no cares - sadly - I work in the public sector and have had zero pay rise for 5+ years - yet things seem to cost more every year ... odd that

anyway - I get TX and my ex pais maintance - I also work and pay into the system - I'd love to hear the alternative :)

But if you where a two adult family with TWO incomes and only ONE household to pay you would be better off than one person paying for everything - surely?

the alternative is obviously that you are more hard-up. This obviously isn't preferable to you.

And I agree with another poster, tax credits are there because low-wage jobs are not at a level which people in this country consider acceptable - and that is a major problem.
But increasing wages to that level wouldn't work either.
So is our expectation of standard of living too high?

But my point remains - is it fair that a household gets different tax credits on the same income, because some of that income comes from the NRP?

I would also prefer that my husband hadn't left me, I would also prefer that my job had given me more than one 2% pay-rise in the last 4 years.

If you don't work but recieve maintenance payments you are only entitled to child tax credit which isn't a great deal.

If you are working you cam claime child tax credit and working tax credit and your maintenance isn't taken into consideration

So what, if your child has a dead beat dad like mine you don't get any maintenance, I'm not going to begrudge those who have better exs than me their maintenance

no - not if you were a 2-adult household on the SAME income as that single parent with earnings and maint.

Yes, there might be potential for that 2-adult family to earn more, but there might not, and there might also be potential for the 1-adult family to earn more (I am not talking about you personally - but I know that I have the potential to earn more by working more hours).

I think tbf for many people tax credits make the difference between eating and not eating or roof over head or living on the streets. I really don't think that is too much for someone to want. I know I'm not interested in fancy jewellery, fast cars or fancy restaurants. The real disgrace is the gap between income and the price of basics and I really do mean basics.

I would be screwed if my housing benefit and wtc/ctc took my ex's maintenance into account. He only pays £30 a week, but he is still shit at paying it on time every week, if at all. He owes me £810 and has done for 2 years - apparently I was getting it over a month ago

I only get £20 a week HB - but would lose that if they presumed ex was paying the money he should. And we all know HB takes weeks or months to sort out and recalculate.

My tax credits are hard enough to juggle as it is. I rely on them, as my wages dont cover my childcare.

Again, you bring back in the rule of deducting maintenance amounts from benefits and you will make the poorer suffer again. And risk families losing their homes.

and that is why they changed the rule - so the problem wasn't the level of income, but the unreliability of main from rubbish NRP, and that issue is even more in need of addressing.

No the ONLY alternative Squirrels is that I give up work - I can't affrord £800 a month childcare :)

is that better

Tax Credits keep people like me working and earning and paying tax - as I have done for 24 years and will continue to do for another 24 min

Surely that is still better - with tax credits - than me being unemployed?

as a lone parent I can assure you I do not earn the £90K + £16k that was my husbands and my wages - and I don't have him to split bills with

I pay council tax, mortgage, food, gas, electric, water rate - bills that where previously split - effectively I have lost £90K in income and gained £1k a month in bills - aint I lucky

Yikes gordy that's more than I earn a month.