Child benefit cut unenforceable

[mcquade]

It has emerged that the scrapping of child benefit for upper rate taxpayers is unenforceable and the Treasury is in a flap about, having failed to consult civil servants before making its headline-grabbing announcement. Yet another mess. Full story here:

blogs.wsj.com/iainmartin/2010/10/28/child-benefit-cut-unenforceable-treasury-in-a-flap/?mod=rss_WSJBlog&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

can't get your link to work

this should work

maybe here?!

Interesting. Link here

Ah sorry, this one works

blogs.wsj.com/iainmartin/

Okay so if the only way to enforce it is by setting up a grossly expensive database to crosscheck everyones records then the argument against means testing it is invalid, is it not?

The Tories are a bunch of half-wits.

read it - wow! what a mess they're in. Can't say I'm surprised though

blogs.wsj.com/iainmartin/2010/10/28/child-benefit-cut-unenforceable-treasury-in-a-flap/ I found this link here]]

I claim the child benefit in my house. DH is a 40% tax payer (only just though!). So will be watching this with interest. I am s/e and earn way less than DH (in fact I got a tax rebate last year as I'd paid too much tax in 09/10!)

Honestly they are so very stupid.

Let's hope all their other plans go to shit as well..

I think Dollshouse summed it up nicely

excellent spot mquade, thanks for posting. I was wondering about this myself!

hahahahahahahahaha

Sorry, can't help laughing my head off at what a cock up this government is!

Those adminstirative difficulties were so obvious from the beginning.

Peter Lilly had 'a little list', George Osborne has a little box'........

I am told that an ?honesty box? is also being considered on male self-assessment tax forms, so that fathers earning more than £44,000 can confess that the mother of their children is taking child benefit.

Maybe they knew this and it is part of a plan to get rid of child benefit altogether. Cameron could say I wanted to keep child benefit but there was no way to direct it at those that need it most.

I know quite a few people who do not claim or keep their child benefit and not all of them are HRT.

How funny. So if it goes ahead the only people who will lose cb are women who are higher rate taxpayers. Talk about a small minority. I definitely feel as if I'm being singled out for special treatment. [hhmm]

Fab

Can they be that stupid? ....

vespasian out of interest, why is that? Don't need it, agree with it?

good for iain martino! used to work for him yonks back, he's done well!

Perhaps the government would also like to consider an honesty box on the tax return forms of all the tax avoiders sat around the cabinet table.

From talking to them it is usually the latter. They may also say they don't need it, but need is a subjective term.

If the mother has no legal duty to tell her partner that she is claiming child benefit it must also mean that the partner has no legal duty to tell his partner that he is a higher tax rate payer.

I remember being asked for dh's NI number when I completed the forms to claim CB for ds2 and I actually put "don't know" because I couldn't see the relevance of the question at the time.

It seems to me that a lot of the cuts they are proposing could be illegal.

Telling poor kids that their EMA of £30 a week won't be paid after next summer even though they have been told they qualify for it. Must stop bleating on about EMA.

Just hoping someone comes along and challenges them legally on this. Whilst I really don't think the changes to CB are going to cause real hardship, they should be stopped if possible.

Thanks, was genuinely interested.

I don't think I know of anyone who doesn't claim. Certainly no-one who's come out and said so.