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Original poster

If the Tories come into power, tax credits could be axed :-O

269 replies

GlastonburyGoddess · 28/08/2009 22:07

In the news today. Im appalled. Talking about how tax credits create a demotivation to earn more etc etc

Im disgusted, no mention of if it would be replaced with something else.

we both work, we get our wages at the end of the month and within 3 days its gone on bils, we then live day to day off the tax credits. we'd be f**d hope they dont end up in power....

OP posts:
HappyMummyOfOne · 29/08/2009 13:36

They havent said they will scrap them but will look to review the system. They could lower the threashold and make it so that people have to work more rather than just the min 16 hours.

Amending tax codes like Prinnie suggested would be better, less admin, less overpayments etc.

The whole benefit system needs a rehaul and whoever has to do it will not be popular but it does need doing. Benefits should not be a lifestyle choice and need to go back to being welfare for those physically unable to work or thosing caring for a disabled child where childcare is not always easily available.

morningpaper · 29/08/2009 13:41

People are sooooo quick to forget it was Labour who introduced the tax credits system and ameliorated the lives of so many of the worst off families in this country

Absolutely HoochieMommaLove - these are LABOUR things.

15 years ago my husband supported me through university on a salary of 12.5k and we got no tax benefits, no grant, no nothing. We lived on Supernoodles and whatever was out of date at Lidl (or whatever the cheap supermarket was called then).

LABOUR brought in tax credits and child tax credits. LABOUR wanted to life children and families out of poverty. The Tories will abolish all this stuff.

Nancy66 · 29/08/2009 13:49

The thing is whoever comes to power will have to massively overhaul the taxation and benefits system.
The government now pays out more in benefits than it collects in income tax and national insurance. The national debut is HUGE.
Labour are keeping quiet because they know there will be an election in the next 9 months and they don't want to make themselves even more unpopular than they currently are.

madeupsurname · 29/08/2009 13:51

People also forget that the TC credits system is of great benefit to employers and the economy in general, as it allows people to live on very low wages.

madeupsurname · 29/08/2009 13:58

Where are your figures from, Nancy?

According to this benefits pay outs will only begin to exceed income tax revenue in this financial year (i.e. in the middle of a recession), and according to this NI revenue was a further £90 billion in 2006-7 (so probably less now, but all the same...)

squilly · 29/08/2009 14:19

The tories are unlikely to support people in the same way as Labour. They are, after all, the party of privatisation, the ones who said the unemployed should get on their bikes, the ones who believe in free market forces ruling supreme. Any support for those who are struggling, those who can't afford their way in the world is likely to be limited.

Labour may well be a bunch of crackpots with bizarre attitudes to many things and a refusal to face up to the many, many problems affecting this country BUT they do and have always helped those who are struggling in life.

Schools are better funded, hospitals have more money, the elderly are better off. This is the legacy of Labour. Tories will always make people pay for themselves.

I don't have much allegiance for any political parties but I do believe that having the Tories back will spell disaster for all but the well off amongst us.

Dubh · 29/08/2009 14:58

In an ideal world tax credits WOULD be scrapped...and replaced with a higher minimum wage and lower taxes on income.

There are large companies making massive profits based on a workforce of low waged workers 'topped up' by the tax payer at great administrative cost. (The Tories are against raising the minimum wage).

But if the minimum wage is going to be a living wage, the govt needs to offer business a trade-off, making it cheaper and easier to hire people, and probably reducing other areas of business taxation.

IUsedToBePeachy · 29/08/2009 15:57

Well you know I'm not sure about some of the otehr points here either

DH doesn't get minimum wage. After his redundancy we cottoned on that the chances of him finding work were really minimal because of the area we live in so he is self employed, 16 hbours at less than minimum wage but he IS making a profit, and he IS studying for the quals that should make it a profitable business in a shortage industry

So making the minimum wage higher won't help self employed poeple, yuet start up businesses now are the future of industry and employment. We need Dh types.

And he can't work more than a minimum of 16 hours without A) finding a way of attracting mroe customers (back to the study thing) and B) losing carers allowance (that has a maximum of 18 hours)

From out here, as someone who thought her family was pretty secure 6 months ago, the system is working well at keeping DH omving forwards to a self supportive future- isn't that exactly what it is meant to do?

smallwhitecat · 29/08/2009 15:58

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IUsedToBePeachy · 29/08/2009 16:01

I'm a Labourite xzombie am I?

When in doubt resort to insults and all that....

Whatever hapepns we as a family will suffer- we'll either lose special needs provision or income or something else. Had we been another 5 years down the ine we'd have been safer as DH and I would both be qualified and at a guess totally exempt from TC's anyway- but that doesn't mean other people will be and I will always try and remember that if and when we get there.

vinblanc · 29/08/2009 16:05

Tax credits are stupid. I hope the next government gets rid of them and brings in something much fairer.

TheCrackFox · 29/08/2009 16:07

I have always been uneasy with the fact you can claim tax credits up to a household income of £80k p.a.

I am all in favour of helping poorer families but the big problem with tax credits is that they are based on last years earnings.

TheDMshouldbeRivened · 29/08/2009 16:29

'In an ideal world tax credits WOULD be scrapped...and replaced with a higher minimum wage and lower taxes on income. '

DH isn't on minimum wage. Its just he cant work full time because he is a carer so that wouldn't help those like us. All those carers.
Abolish CTC and we put dd into care so dh can work full time to pay the mortgage. As would many many carers. That would cost the taxpayer waaaaaaaaaaaay more than CTC.

Paolosgirl · 29/08/2009 16:41

Do you know we now pay out more in tax credits than we make as a country?

The whole thing is crazy. Yes, provide extra help to those who need it, but don't make it the case that people can claim tax credits and 'make up' their salary levels to that of others. It means that many of those people (myself included) would actually earn the same if they gave up their job, took a job paying a few grand a year and then boosted it up with tax credits.

What the Govt should be doing is increasing the minimum wage so that companies can no longer pay a pittance and pass the buck onto the taxpayer to make up the shortfall. CTC simply cannot be sustained at this level - the Tories are talking about limiting it to those on £50k as a household, not abolishing it.

TheDMshouldbeRivened · 29/08/2009 16:43

I am stunned poeple on 50K can get it. Thats a monstrous wage!

JRocks · 29/08/2009 17:01

I'm confused that people on 50k can get it - we don't bring in anything like that and are on virtually no Child tax credits. I sometimes wonder if they just make up how much you are entitled to on a whim.

TheCrackFox · 29/08/2009 17:03

You should be getting about £40 a month IIRC.

TheDMshouldbeRivened · 29/08/2009 17:04

it does depend on how many kids you have.

electra · 29/08/2009 17:06

Surely this isn't news? I've always thought the Tories would axe tax credits - was the main reason I voted labour last time! Well not the main reason but it certainly played a role...

Paolosgirl · 29/08/2009 17:07

£50K is not a monstrous wage if you live in an expensive area. It also depends on your personal circumstances as to your outgoings - council tax, commuting costs, number of children etc etc.

£40 is about right.

noodlesoup · 29/08/2009 17:17

How are labour intending to pay for tax credits in their current form?

hatwoman · 29/08/2009 17:24

what really annoys me about tax credits is that they are seen as something the govt "gives" to people (out of the kindness of their hearts ). Tax credits aren't bits of money handed out by some wonderful generous govt, they are, in effect, a (stupidly complex) system by which people who earn less pay less of their money - the money they earn - to the govt in taxes. Which is exactly as it should be. So I agree with the net effect of them but object to the system - both in terms of adding extra layers and bureaucracy and complexity to taxation - and in terms of dressing something up as something it's not. Combining this with the abolition of the 10p tax rate makes me particularly furious.

I have no doubt that a Tory govt will make sweeping changes - but I no longer have faith in the current govt to implement a truly fair system of taxation, benefits, NI etc etc.

smallwhitecat · 29/08/2009 17:35

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Itsjustafleshwound · 29/08/2009 17:42

Why do people fall for scare mongering and unsubstantiated tittle tale??

There are going to be cuts - whether they admit them or not - regardless of what party gets into power ... it just seems rich to pick on this fact, when this week the Labour govt has come up with two new wheezes that will adversly affect the poorest bunch ...

TheDMshouldbeRivened · 29/08/2009 17:45

perhaps you should produce some links for 'less is more' for the NHS. I see shorter waiting times. Under Tories it was 18 months to see a consultant. A couple of years for an op. Now its weeks.