Tax deductable childcare for all working parents

[eleusis]

I think the income which one spends on childcare in order to go to work ought to be tax free. So, if I earn £35,000 and spend £12,500 paying my nanny, childminder, or nursery fees, then I should pay income tax on £22,500 that year.

Do you agree?

dh and I aren't in a position to share childcare though 0 he is away a lot with work so I have to pay childcare costs for my working hours

Why should I be out of pocket because I have to pay childcare costs?

imho, if you don't pay childcare costs, why do you need a tax break?

I work - on average 28hrs a week and I earn £5.70 an hour - on my feet for 95% of it. DH work 37.5hrs a week (or is contracted to usually works more) and gets a basic of £12,000 a year.....

Ok, if you worked full time, your costs would rise because you would have to do things like buy more convenience food because you wouldn't have time to make dinner. So, working part time helps you keep your outgoings down a bit. But, I still can't grasp £17k for a year.

I wouldn't buy more convineience food - as I know full well I can cook a proper healthy meal in the same 30-45 minutes it takes to cook convineince stuff (including heating oven time) - infact some meals can be done quicker than that.

As I said if you can't 'get' £17k a year - as those in Greater London who earn a LOT less than that and live quite comfortably.....

I'm not convinced it's possible.

I mean a convenience meal that takes 3 minutes in the microwave because you don't have 20 minutes to cook and another 10 to clean.

ROFL

buying convenience food cos you work full time

but they taste like shit

make a massive pot of chilli on saturday afternoon and freeze in individual portions

ffs!

oh gawd - I thought you meant the semi decent ready meals that you cook in the oven - there's NO WAY I would buy the microwave stuff - sorry!

Hey, the day is long, I'm tired and I'll settle for what I can get, especially if it requires no cleaning.

I do try to make a pot of food on Sndays but sometimes the weekend is too busy and I just don't have time.

yes I know what you mean about the day being long - I've been up since 8am yesterday morning - had training at work from 9.30-4.30 during the day yesterday, worked from 9.45pm last night to -7am this morning and have had the DS's (3 and 6yrs old) all day - oh and bump hasn't stopped moving all day either......... I'm about to go and cook Toad in the Hole for them........

I'm afraid in my eyes there's no subsitute for proper food......

fannyannie - aren't you worried about burning out?

what burning the sausages........nah - do that even when I haven't worked the night before .

OMG, no wonder you talk such rubbish.

Just kidding

oh no - I do that (talk rubbish) when I haven't worked the previous night as well LOL.

So basically, fa, you just don't need sleep.

An you are pregnant? Did I get that right?

Bozza - I do sleep - I'll sleep tonight once the DS's are in bed (although I've always 'woken up' properly at their bedtime so will probably go around 10ish when I start to get sleepy again. And then I'll sleep tomorrow night too - then get up 8am Thursday morning, work Thursday night and go to bed Friday night. I usually have at least one night off between shifts so get sleep then. The only time I work 2 nights in a row is at the weekend (fri/sat nights) and I can sleep on Saturday during the day as DH is at home. Sometimes I sleep Sunday afternoon for a few hours too - depends on whether he wants to get some more hours/sales in or not.

Yes I'm pg - 24 weeks today (can't belive I'm already that far on!!!)

Right, in that case, I take my hat off to you. No way could I have done that when I was preggers. I could hardly get to lunch without sleep.

fanny i was the same

used to work a nightshift, 730pm til 8am, go home look after dds then get to bed when dh came hme

up all day, stay up all night working, up all day again with dds, therefore 36 hrs average without kip

((hugs)) to you

now i work weekends and dh works monday to friday

ships in the night!

I'm feeling lazy now. Better get back to work and earn my keep.

I love your posts Uwila !

I do worry that fannyannie will suffer burnout and the pressure of a new baby/ third child will only add to the pressures.

Fanny, I work 30 hours a week and my salary is still only half that of some more well-off people, so technically , yes, they could work half as much for the same money but that is life. However, I think you will find that the sorts of jobs that pay such good returns can't be done as shift work and some often require massive dedication with family life sometimes being squeezed accordingly.

I personally don't want those pressures and don't want to increase my hours any further so I stick with what I've got and and am reasonably happy. I don't begrudge others what they earn or their au-pair/nanny/holiday home/foreign holidays as life is too short and that sort of envy can become all consuming whilst adding not one jot to the quality of one's own life.

If the government recognises the ever increasing cost of childcare as a barrier to more people working and so contributing to the tax and NI fund that is for the benefit of all citizens whatever their earning power, I for one won't begrudge the same tax relief being given to higher earners too. All I'll care about is that my own childcare costs will be reduced leaving me with more disposable income and perhaps the ability to drop down to 25 hours a week with life becoming a bit less stressed all round.

I did use to be able to get some sleep during the day but about 6 weeks ago DS2 decided that he didn't want to sleep in the afternoons anymore - and rather than trying to have 3/4hrs sleep before DH had to go to work (and therefore me get up) I decided I may as well stay up.

I used to sleep during the day from 8 (or 10 depending on whether I took DS1 to school or DH did) until 3 (time to get up to get DS1 from school). DH would look after DS2 in the morning until just after lunch, put him down for his nap and then go out to work leaving us both sleeping.

I actually quite like staying up now - as I don't really feel like I'm a working mum - as I'm up during the day as per normal with the DS's.

But Fanny it sounds absolutely knackering.

I'd be a danger to other road users and burning meals left right and centre on your sleep patterns. My cooking and driving aren't that good at the best of times.

it's ok road users are safe - I don't drive - DH is my taxi driver LOL.

And I think I've only burnt 3 dinners in the last year or so - and at least 2 of those I hadn't worked so had no excuse