So child benefit to go for higher rate taxpayers

[foxinsocks]

So says George osbourne on breakfast telly. Missed the details but sounds like it comes in from 2013!

[Ineedmorechocolatenow]

We live in the S.E. We'll lose about £150 a month. That's a HUGE deal to us.

[HowAnnoying]

"I thought that MN was very lefty and believed in taxing the rich to help the poor"

earning £44k with kids, mortgage etc is not rich is it?

[fluffles]

i agree it will be a nightmare to implement but at the same time i think that universal benefits while being good in terms of higher take-up and lower admin costs, cannot really be defended in a time of such serious cuts.

i don't actually agree with a lot of the cuts but if you're going to go around closing museums and libraries, laying off huge numbers of public sector workers, reducing police staff etc... then you cannot justify paying CB and other benefits universally. You just can't.

[p.s. and i say that as somebody who will lose out if we ever do conceive as DH is a higher rate payer (just) while i am not near it]

[bluecardi]

tax payers have paid their taxes so why should they lose getting some of this tax back for their family? Seems unfair to those in work.

[ColdComfortFarm]

This is only the start! This government has been talking about cuts for months now, and cuts don't just affect other people.

[MaryBS]

DH HAS to have a company car for work, this is included as part of his income, and pushed him over the threshold. I lost my job last year, the CB is NEEDED, I don't get any other benefits :(

The only comfort is that its not till 2013, so we get a couple of years to get used to the idea :(.

Anyone else considering writing to their MP about it?

[telsa]

Taxing rich to help the poor - yes, well that's all fine. But this is not about that - it is all about bailing out the banks and maintaining the ruling class status quo. Why do we have to keep on paying to keep global capitalism alive and f**king us over?

[poppyknot]

Is this not regressive taxation by stealth? The minute (or pound!) you are into the higher band you lose everything?


So the 50% tax payer loses the same amount but hugely differnt proportion than the £44,000 tax payer.

[fembear]

"earning £44k with kids, mortgage etc is not rich is it?"

Ha ha. And MN goes on about Cameron and Osborne not living in the real world ...

[CerealOffender]

yes we need cuts but we need an economy ffs. people need money in their pockets or else the small amount of home grown industry will go to the wall.

what will we be left with in 5 years? alot of folk on the bread line and no enterprise. if you cut the public sector you need to stimulate the economy somehow. the royal bank in edinburgh is slashing jobs despite making a profit this year, they are outsourcing their it to india. this is happening all over. small businesses are going to the wall as everyone tightens their belts and shops at aldi and the rest. this country is going to have nothing left to fall back on. [gloomy]

[LilyBolero]

44k for a family is below average income. He is taking it from families below average income and continuing to give it to families that earn nearly double that.

[BirdyBedtime]

Thinking more about this I can't see how it is workable. What would happen if someone was just below the HRT threshold at the start of the year and so claimed/recieved CB for 11 months then in month 12 got a promotion that meant that the final month's pay pushed them into the HRT band - would they be asked to pay back all of the CB they had received that year? Or in a family with children which separates or gets married within a particular year. Surely this hasn't been though through properly and the admin costs will be huge.

[HowAnnoying]

I would LOVE to know how the multi millionaires Osbourne and Cameron are "in this together" with the rest of us plebs. WHat pain are they feeling I wonder.

[WreckOfTheHesperus]

I'm a well-off higher rate tax-payer, and can understand that it isn't very fair for me to continue receiving child benefit; think that I'm in a different position to those earning just over the threshold, however.

What I am curious about is the concept of families and household here; does the ruling only impact those who are married, or does it look beyond this to all partnerships and households?

And if it does look beyond the legal status for this purpose, why couldn't it for other taxes such as inheritance tax, where unmarried partners get walloped for tax?

[bluecardi]

why not put a huge tax on booze & fags?

[NoahAndTheWhale]

Is average income per person £23k, or average per family?

[Mumi]

(I'm going to stick up for benefits for elderly people by pointing that things like winter fuel allowance are automatic because the elderly have a lot more trouble applying for benefit and means testing would mean a lot more of them dying in winter.
Having said that I do take the point that lords and MPs clearly don't need a free bus pass so there should at least be an easier opt-out system.
Despite all the fuss about benefit fraud I do believe there are many who would be honest about it when they'll really never need it.)

This may not affect me for a long time as a single mum, maybe even never (as I'm not holding my breath for a suitable and well paid job with my disabilities and caring responsibilities) but I would very possibly be financially penalised for moving in with, marrying and starting a family with DP (which I thought was what the Tories would want - silly me!) if he even had a hint of career success after graduating in this climate.

We are being attacked.
Hardly a week seems to go by without some tripe in the media such as how all mums do all day is yak away on the net - this move to take away our "pin money" won't be met with much resistance

In reality, for any main carer with a child, it will effectively take away their basic financial independence.
Child Benefit can be a lifesaver for those in domestic violence situations.
It doesn't even bear thinking about.

How can we fight back?

[Alibabaandthe40nappies]

I agree with doing this in principle, but obviously we will feel the loss of income like anyone else.

I agree with longfingernails that the idea that a dual income household on £80k could keep the benefit while we as a single income household will loose it doesn't sit well at all. Especially as that dual income household will already be paying significantly less tax than a single income household on the same gross salary.

More argument than ever to move to a single tax code for a household rather than taxing people as individuals.

[MarshaBrady]

Why should anyone be entitled to cb? regardless of income. If the the economy can't sustain it - Scrap it.

[ColdComfortFarm]

I would like to see the sums though, as usually universal benefits are very cheap to administer and means testing is expensive. On the other hand, the family I know with four children all in private schools, a £3million house and fabulous income gets 4xchild benefit, which does seem wrong.

[MollieO]

It will be interesting to see how this works in practice. I already feel clobbered compared to my same earning colleagues who have SAHWs and therefore don't have any childcare costs. I am beginning to understand why some single parents think it is better to stay at home withe their children and claim benefits.