Hoo-bloody-ray! Child benefit cuts to be 'looked at for fairness'

[NoWayNoHow]

Basic logic and maths prevails at last!

Fingers crossed they actually find a fairer way to implement - I remember the uproar when it was first announced, simply because it was so ridiculously prejudiced against single salary families.

10% is still a discount.
And what does "most" mean?

It should be more than for a first home, not less.

You could also do things like increase stamp duty on second and subsequent homes

Lots of things

Things that never get mentioned.

Totally agree about WFA MrsHeffley, my friends parents go on holiday for eight weeks in the winter.

by most i just meant, most as I don't think all counties charge the same percentage. I am not sure I agree it should be more, you do afterall use less of the facilities if it is your second home. That said, I think second homes create huge problems for communities and highly inflate house prices in areas which usually have high unemployment, I know as I have lived in one of these areas unfortunately (Kent coast)

So my situation is this:-

2 X sets of parents mortgage free,nice big houses,big pensions(my dps get 3 X pensions) and investments 1 set still working on top of pensions LOOSE NOTHING

loaded sil and bil mortgage free,masses of investments and shares will be retiring at 50 on 2 x £40 K LOOSE NOTHING

dsis and her dh both work so on around £60 or £70,smaller mortgage trying to pay off early, lots of financial help from inlaws LOOSE NOTHING

dp and I the poorest of the lot with the lowest income and highest outgoings loose £200 a month-fair I think not!!!!

Just you seemed to be saying that there wasn't a discount really, but any discount is a discount, and some are offering more than 10%.

There is also all the stuff that doesn't attract VAT which is odd. I seem to remember that fine wines and yachts are included? Stuff like that should change.

No, i wasn't saying that at all, you said look at the reduction and I said it's 90% in most places. It wasn't a criticism, I just don't think 10% is a huge reduction but I do agree that they should pay full council tax like everyone else.

People who don't actually live here in the winter but in 2nd homes in sunnier climes will still get it whilst my 3dc and I are layering the jumpers and keeping the heating off.

Fair-I think not!!!!!

It just gets on my tits that they always focus on welfare type benefits

And completely ignore all the benefits that wealthy people get through other mechanisms

Yes, i completely agree with you SardineQueen

I always think everything is stacked up against those who cannot afford things too, such is the way of the world, but even those solar panels, if you have 10k spare and you own house you can get free electric and yet the people who can't afford 10k for solar panels and don't own their own house will pay through the nose for energy (especially if it's on a meter) and face rising energy costs.

I know that is a simple example, but it's just unfair

My DH is a HR tax payer (just), so we will be losing child benefit. Just to add to the fun, he is also a public servant, so his pension contributions are about to be doubled. Oh for some spare cash to be feckless with!

I wonder how many people on this thread signed this
[http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_campaigns/1361867-EDCM-Campaign-against-cuts-to-benefits-paid-to-parents-of-disabled-children ??]]

It always seemed to me to be a very calculated way of getting huge and very damaging benefit cuts though while claimimg everyone was in this together. I'm not surprised it is being looked at again and I'm sure if they had been able to, if the economy had picked up sooner, would have loved to have announced that they would stop the CB cuts, while having already impliemted the other cuts to those on welfare.

Oh and pensioners got an increase which for the poorer ones I don't begrudge at all but I don't understand how the Tories can justify continually looking after one section of society through this economic crisis by taking away from another (families/children) over and over again.

I hope their gamble of protecting their electorate at the expense of others pays off for them but I'm beginning to suspect it won't. Even my wealthy parents are starting to grumble.They are doting grandparents and these cuts effect their own.

Agincourt we couldn't afford 10K for solar panels either. We have no spare money lying around.

This seems to be tough on everyone and as someone stated it will probably cost more to administer. could they not raise the threshold of the cut off to 60k.

Or why not just raise income tax by 1% on HR tax or something - thereby ensuring increases are staggered, if you're v wealthy whether by employment / savings / pension payouts you will contribute more. Keep CB as it is - no admin costs, and effectively the HR taxpayers would be losing it in additional taxes. But people only just over threshold wouldn't be losing much at all.

Or is that just too bloody simple?

Absolutely grubbalo, this would make infinitely more sense, be far easier to administer and be much, much fairer.

But being Tories, they need to be seen to be cutting benefits, not raising taxes.

Sorry I know I'm going to be slated but...if a household has a joint income then chances are they will be paying out a huge amount in childcare which wouldn't be the case for the single income family so those who have one high earner and another stay at home person will be better off in those childcare years than two people on say £30,000 each who pay out £800 to £1000 month on childcare and are doing that so that they are better off in years to come when their childcare costs finally come down

No slating from me miabl2! But dontcha know, I only work so that I can dress my kids in Boden, go on holiday every year, and buy lattes from Starbucks every day

Agree with melody too - this was a very effective ruse to distract chattering middle-earning types, getting them to stop making noises about the really serious cuts affecting the poorest and start worrying about themselves instead.

i would like to see how many people use salary sacrifice to avoid moving up to the higher tax bracket.

pay more money into your pension & keep CB.

I hope they don't fuck me up, that 20.13 + the tenner I get on the tax credits is the only cash I have, DF who earns 24k doesn't give me any money and barely manages to keep 1k in the bank.

I don't trust this government they are obsessed with screwing over everyone who earns more then minimum wage as if everyone else is doing just fine, oblivious to the fact that no one earning that little can live outside of their parents/social housing in London.

Some may Miabl, but many won't. For example, those who's grandparents take care of them. Other's may be old enough to look after themselves. Or in my situation where I work from home.

Miabll2 - I've been trying to point this out regarding the childcare costs.

I'm listening to the news and whoever is talking (politician, campaigner, no idea who, really!) and the general consensus seems to be that if there are two people, each earning £40k a year the family is doing very well.

But, think about the implication on childcare costs of two parents with full time jobs. Plus the stress that is brought into the family by not having much time with the children.

Of course, there are plenty of families with two much lower earners who will struggle even more.

I love how there's always someone on these threads with the attitude that if you can't survive on £42k (not that that is what you actually take home, but why spoil a good argument), you should move to a cheaper house/have had fewer dc/get a job. I'd love to know where all these cheap houses and jobs are.

Another thought is that the people in the middle constantly get squeezed, but console themselves with the thought that they too are benefitting from our system. Take that away and you end up with people becoming very resentful of those on benefits, who they perceive to be getting the same (or higher) standard of living while not paying for anything. This resentment suits the government, who can then systematically dismantle the welfare state and get no opposition from the middle earners.

Who says the Tories are clueless?