to think the marriage allowance is an unfair tax allowance

[chomalungma]

It's going to be a thing over the next few weeks.

The Conservatives introduced it - in the coalition. I think the Lib Dems accepted it so they could get free school meals as well.

Great if you're married. You don't need to have kids to get it. Just be married.

If you aren't married, then you don't get it. Even though the money could be handy if you are in a couple.

Or if it didn't exist, then the money could be used to go towards education, Sure Start, the NHS, relationship counselling...all things that help ALL families instead of married couples.

Angela Rayner struggled to answer that question on Marr this morning whereas Corbyn gave a clear answer - stating it was discriminatory.

I think it will come up in the election campaign.

Is it unfair?

I would prefer it if there were tax breaks for disabled workers & taxpayers who are carers, they are the members of our society who are losing out the most.

Very often the reason there is a non / low earning spouse is because they are a carer and / or disabled.

Its pointless. We should have fully transferable personal allowances in households.

BuggerOff, I didn't realise that about the £50k. It's good to know.

I personally would like the option for ALL tax affairs to be treated as one single pot for married couples who share all their finances anyway.

I totally agree with this.

I can’t claim child benefit because of DHs earnings so the tax system assumes we are one pot BUT when I wasn’t working DH couldn’t my personal allowance - again because of his earnings.

If we were treated as one joint financial entity we’d still get child benefit and share the tax burden (I still don’t earn enough to pay tax).

@BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou you can claim child benefit. your DH would then repay it through his tax return.

pooled tax affairs used to be the standard but sensible feminists campaigned against them and the right to be treated as a legally separate entity to one's husband. without this, abusive husbands have total control over their wife's spending power. a married woman cannot earn a single penny without her husband knowing about it.

obviously in a good marriage all finances are shared but we can't base the tax system on the assumption that everyone acts ethically.

Things seem to be pooled when it suits them. Dsis cannot get jsa becsuse of his dps pension. I can't get child benefit due to dhs earnings. Well I get it but it is taken from tax.
Yey dh can't benefit from my tax free allowance which I don't fully utilise.
Not a huge issue of course for us.

@BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou you can claim child benefit. your DH would then repay it through his tax return.

No point claiming it if we then have to pay it back. Note I say WE. All money is shared, no such thing as his and mine.

It's worth claiming it and paying back to get your NI credits paid to be honest, buggeroff for your state pension.

Sorry yo ask a stupid question but how does this tax allowance work exactly? Am married myself & not away of any benefit?! (Re: tax that is)

pooled tax affairs used to be the standard but sensible feminists campaigned against them and the right to be treated as a legally separate entity to one's husband. without this, abusive husbands have total control over their wife's spending power. a married woman cannot earn a single penny without her husband knowing about it.

So make it optional. Or maybe divorce the abusive husband. I realise that’s easy for me to say as I’m happily married but I think those “sensible feminists” cut off their noses to spite their faces to be honest. When DH and I first got married he wasn’t working and I DID get married persons tax allowance which was a massive help. This was abolished by Tony Blair’s government. At that time I was not working and DH was getting the tax relief so it was quite a blow.

It's worth claiming it and paying back to get your NI credits paid to be honest, buggeroff for your state pension.

We did that for a few years but I pay NI now so not necessary. Good advice for those not working at all though.

Sorry yo ask a stupid question but how does this tax allowance work exactly? Am married myself & not away of any benefit?! (Re: tax that is)

So long as one of you doesn’t use their personal tax free allowance AND the other is not a higher rate tax payer then the higher earners can use some of the non tax payers allowance. It’s worth about £250 per annum.

It's worth claiming it and paying back to get your NI credits paid to be honest, buggeroff for your state pension.

This with bells on.

Wait a moment!

So, in 1990 a woman's wages became taxed as though she really were an adult... yes 1990, separate taxes came in, my wages were no longer seen as my husband's and I was given my very own, separate tax code. He no longer had the right to know what I earned, it was no longer part of his income!" 1990

In 2000 the Tories took away the married couples allowance, the MCA, that came in as part of that wages separation and variations have been fradled with ever since, getting smaller and smaller as time goes on.

Given that it is usually the woman that is the lower earner it is odd that a forum for women should be shouting that it needs to be abolished. What is needed is a more equitable share of taxation and benefits so that the lwoere earner, male or female, gets a balnaced shot at pension credits, NI ect.

And non married couples can claim, it, can't they? SInce 2005 anyone in a civil partnership can...

researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN00870

pooled tax affairs used to be the standard but sensible feminists campaigned against them and the right to be treated as a legally separate entity to one's husband. without this, abusive husbands have total control over their wife's spending power. a married woman cannot earn a single penny without her husband knowing about it.

Nowhere did I say that the right should be taken away - I said that it should be an option if both parties in a marriage want it.

Feminism is about women having the choices as men - it isn't about taking away choices from other women (or men, for that matter), simply because they make different choices from you.

Feminists have campaigned long and hard for employment and abortion rights, but nobody is suggesting that being a SAHM should be illegal or that wanted babies all have to be aborted.

I think those “sensible feminists” cut off their noses to spite their faces

Oh yawn. Like we’ve never heard that line before. Sit down and be quiet pesky feminists. You’re only making this worse for yourselves.

Feminism is about women having the choices as men - it isn't about taking away choices from other women (or men, for that matter), simply because they make different choices from you.

^ well said

Hardly anyone qualifies for it and it's peanuts.

I think it's a token gesture to appeal to older conservative voters rather than anyone with young children now.

There are many many many more things to get worked up about.

If I am genuinely a separate financial entity then I can claim benefits based on my low earnings (around £11k)......

Oh no I can’t because DH and I are treated as joint BUT we are treated separately for situations where joint would be beneficial to us.

Surely it should be one or the other for ALL purposes.

I have lived alone and I have lied as part of a bigger household paying 1/3 of the costs for a house of 3. Living aone is, by far, the more expensive option.

However, I find it hard to begrudge anywone a £250 tax break. One of the most despicable and toxic tactics used by politians is to pit the average person against a slightly different average person. They are gambling that you will use all your energy up worrying about £250 your neighbour is getting (or extra bedrooms someone might have, or disability allowances etc) and not have any left to bother about their own thievery.

Someone getting a £250 tax break is not the enemy of good schools or good health care. The vampires in charge of the blood banks are. Politicans and big businesses bribing and influencing laws to aid their own personal gratification...

It's worth claiming it and paying back to get your NI credits paid

You don't need to claim it and then pay it back. You can still get NI credits without receiving it in the first place, you just have to tick the box on the form where you ask for payments to be stopped.

Hardly anyone qualifies for it and it's peanuts.

4.2 million people isn't "hardly anyone" and for lots of eligible people, all lower earners, £250 is a lot of money that they'll lose.

There was an experiment conducted a while back. I can't remember the exact details so please forgive errors. Hopefully i remember the gist of it.

50 participants. 25 were given £5. 25 were given £10. The recipients of £5 were given the option of £1 pound taken off of their sum, if £5 was taken from the recipients of the £10. A fair chunk voted for this.

The point is that people will often aim to make others poorer because they perceive that they are being unfairly treated, even if that means a neutral, or even a negative effect to their own wealth.

This is how i see opposition to the married persons tax allowance. Just because I don't qualify, I'll vote to strip it from others, even if there is no benefit to me.

Isn't child benefit restrictions also unfair?