child benefit

[KWH]

Can any body tell me why David Cameron thinks its fair to take CB away from a proportion of people particularly those just over the £44,000 threshold, because he thinks they are better off! without means testing this? a family could have any amount of children, We have three and stand to lose an annual amount of £1950 the cost of living in London is huge and we just about make ends meet as it is. David Cameron is seriously out of touch with what it cost to raise teenagers. Schools pass on many more costs to parents and our outgoings just to support their education are huge. During September I had to pay the following:
£190 for a science field trip,
£28 for an A'level Art field trip and a further
£16 for an A'level Art Exhibition.

£19 for the hire of a locker
£30 for her monthly Oyster card ? (as she is no longer considered a child)
£1 for an art book
£3 for a Text book
£20 lunch money on her lanyard
£80 for a new wardrobe of clothes ? because she doesn?t wear school uniform.
£15 for a new PE T-shirt because she is in 6th form.
£70 for swimming tuition related to PE A'level
£85 for dancing lessons

Benefits are not based on disposable income because people have very different ideas of what is necessary cost of living and what is a luxury. For every family like yours, struggling to make ends meet on a salary far above the national average, there are many others on much lower salaries making different choices, yet you expect their taxes to pay to keep your family in the style to which it is accustomed. Dancing lessons, let's be honest, are hardly an essential.

If London is too expensive a place to live, it would make sense to relocate.

Surely benefits should be those who really are in need - at the moment cameron himself would be collecting £2000 a year and how ridiculous is that? Totally agree that it would be fairer if it were per household though.

Whilst there will be always people on lower incomes, we were without an income altogether for sometime after my husband was made redundant, tax should be fair, and there is nothing fair about taking money away from a proportion of people to pay for the brunt of the National Debt. Income tax is a fairer way of dealing with everyone, the more you earn the more you pay.

We all make choices about how we spend our money and without the knowledge behind some of those choices it is wrong to judge others. Dancing lessons and swimming lessons are for my daughters muscles, as they need strengthening to help her walk. I agree, relocation from London would be ideal, but not only is it very expensive to sell a house and buy another (stamp duty considered) but you have to live where the jobs are.

KWH I think you and lots of other people need to get some perspective. Yes, raising kids is expensive, even more so in London than in other places, but your list just makes you sound whining and out of touch. Dance classes are a luxury by any stretch of the imagination. I'm sorry but however you slice it £44k is a very good household income. And if you think this is bad just wait for the CSR on 20th Oct

It is a very good wage if you live in loughborough or bought a property 10 years ago.

Some of us have been caught out by the house price inflation. Mortgages/rents from the last few years in the south east easily take a massive chunk out of that salary.

Cuts have to and are being made but stop calling this wage affluent! Its all relative to outgoings
That said, there are no extra curricular classes in our household.

Cant