AIBU to think its become shameful to admit to getting tax credits?

[smallspikyleaves]

it certainly is in my circle

I have had mine reduced recently and was moaning about it only for most of my friends to be kind of like, oh we don't get any anymore. when I would actually put money on that they actually do

It just used to be a given that most people with families got some. and people used to openly discuss it in my experience. now its all hush hush and taboo I think

Tax credits were never intended to be a " benefit" it is Tory spin that has changed things.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=8dllkfKg7B4
Original tax credits advert encouraging people to claim.

I am just always amazed that people discuss any of their finances with friends and family.

I genuinely think that with the threshold being so low, most people don't qualify and haven't for a while. Not in any way a judgement on you and your DH. I think 2 X NMW would just about qualify anyway so in any case, there would be nothing to sneer about even if someone were inclined.

Can anyone show evidence of this propaganda machine at work - how demonising the working class has become the in-thing or how the right wing press has turned everyone against 'you'.

I think making long-term unemployment socially unacceptable is a positive thing*. It worked for drink driving. Not so long ago it wasn't really frowned upon; now most decent people would be appalled if someone they knew drove drunk.

yes, some* people need them long term and shouldn't be ashamed.

Jiving stone tax credits are given to employed people in the vast majority of cases.

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00G2DO4JM/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Buy yourself a copy of the above book. Also use catch up/ you tube and watch all the channel four and channel five poverty porn.
Oh and read the daily mail app for a week day

The book is " chavs the demonising of the working class btw.

Peoples business should be their own. You shouldn't feel ashamed. My dh and I don't need them but we weren't always in our current situation. We are a society and all members should be equally valued whatever their financial situation.

I think it's possible that admitting to long term reliance on welfare as a lifestyle choice is no longer as socially acceptable as it was, although that's always going to have variations according to age and to area and to outlook generally.

I do dislike this stance however which states that those of us who disagree with the tax credit system as it was, or indeed is, are in some way the victim of propaganda. I can assure you I intelligent enough, old enough and ugly enough to make up my own mind!

lifestyle choice
Y
Ah yes, I made a lifestyle choice when my ex husband walked out leaving me with 3 children to support. I work full time as a teacher - am out the house from 7:30 to 6 and I mark exams and tutor as well. I am still eligible to receive tax credits. Fuck off with your 'lifestyle choice'.

With the Goverment spouting hard working families every other sentence it gets driven in peoples minds like a sponge its depressing getting working benefits is how hard working families get by and sometimes barely.

I think pinks just proved the point of the thread. Propaganda works.

You always know a drone when they trot out the 'lifestyle choice' prattle

HA lifestyle choice dont be ridiculous

that link refers to working tax credit or tax credits above the family element rather than all tax credits.

I missed that, thanks for the correction.

The government trots out the 'hard working families' clap trap as if those who receive help from the state aren't hard working. Fact is there are families up and down the country who are working their arses off yet still require help from the state in order to make ends meet. This is wrong and this is what the government needs to address. Rather than fuelling the stereotype that anyone in receipt of tax credits aren't doing enough to help themselves.

Lifestyle choice indeed

Some people do make a lifestyle choice with tax credits, either reducing the hours they work or not seeking promotion. I don't blame individuals for that but I do think the system is faulty.

People often reduce hours because childcare is so expensive and they are trying to balance their life

We are definitely in a position where we cannot extend hours and DP can't go for a promotion because a change in his hours would mean more childcare which isn't affordable. We've had to try to strike a balance between working/earning enough but using absolutely minimal childcare. It's not exactly a lifestyle choice.

What if promotion means a change in working hours - being the first in and the last out? What if you can't get childcare to cover that? What if it means being on a 7 day rota rather than 5 and you have no weekend childcare? What if promotion requires thousands for a qualification you need to pay out for yourself and you are living hand to mouth? What if getting that qualification means night school and you have no childcare.....people don't always like the position they are in but can really struggle to find a way out.

I dont think working 3 jobs is anymore or less an indicator of how hard (or long) someone does or doesn't work.

That could be 3 jobs of four hours each a week while 1 job could be 60 hours a week, or it could be 3 jobs of 20 hours each a week while 1 job could be 16 hours a week.

Yes, but what if it doesn't

Individuals are always going to have to make choices about what suits their families. But ultimately, without the thousands of 'what ifs' in a straightforward case where someone is being offered more money and turn it down because benefits offer more, then the system is flawed.

That's the system I'm criticising, not the individuals in it. If I was offered more work, less money, I'd refuse. Obviously I would! But that shouldn't really have ever come into play.

Tax credits offer more? Can you give a real example, please?

And when you spout the 'lifestyle choice' shite you have no idea of the person or people behind it. I don' t know of anyone who's life could be considered straight forward. You know nothing of people's lives or choices.

I would never moan about it given that lots of people don't get them and probably should. But no, it's not shameful. You've earned tax credits rather than being sat with your greedy hand out.

Is there ever a situation where tax credits offer more than earning more?

But by saying the system is wrong you are saying the people claiming are wrong you are then saying if the system was tighter then folk would need to work harder

Indeed, no ones life is straightforward but that doesn't mean it should be funded by benefits either.

The tax credit system is one that traps people into long term welfare dependency. I disagree with the system which again, is not a criticism of individuals within it. However, I can think of numerous examples of people being offered more hours and not taking them due to the impact it would have on their tax credits and people offered a small promotion but the extra money would reduce their tax credits and therefore wasn't financially viable.

That's unfair on the individuals. Rather than having the opportunity to develop their careers and be self sufficient they end up literally caught between the rock and the hard place. Given the choice, most people would rather rely on themselves than on benefits but in the immediate short term with small children, anybody would go for the option that makes the most financial sense.