IMPORTANT tax information for SAHMs and SAHDs or any couple with very different income levels

[fairertaxesnow]

Did you know that in most western countries, couples and families are given the option to be taxed on their COMBINED income, instead of being taxed individually? The reason for this is because it is MUCH FAIRER!

In the UK, taxes are relatively low for individuals, but they do not take into account how many people depend on that income. So a single man/woman with no dependants who spends all their money on themselves pays the same exact amount of taxes than a dad/mom with several children and a partner/spouse who stays at home because childcare is too expensive (or because it is best for young children, as research has demonstrated, or even if it's not their choice to stay at home but they can't find a job!)

Yes, there is (a pretty small) child benefit but this is capped/eliminated depending on the income level, and with only one parent earning money, the family will loose most of the benefit at relatively low income levels.

How is that fair!? This country needs to support families just like the rest of the western countries and not punish single earner families with a parent at home or working part time by placing the highest tax burden on them. Ultimately this affects the children, who are the future!

The child benefit charge is also very unfair, as many people have observed, because single earner families will start loosing their benefit at much lower household income (£50k) than double-earner families (they could earn up to £100k and have full benefits!)

Please sign the following petition to ask our government to modify the tax system to allow families to be taxed on their combined household income, just as most other countries have been doing for decades:

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/216429

Also, please share it with as many people as you can! The government will only respond if we reach 10,000 signatures!

More info:
www.telegraph.co.uk/women/mother-tongue/8365211/Britain-worst-place-for-tax-burden-on-single-earner-families.html
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/11/single-income-families-inequality-workers-fathers-earnings

The petition is not about removing separate taxation! It's about adding the option of joint taxation as well

Having the option of joint taxation wouldn't encourage women to stay home!

How would it not? Basic maths. Say me and dh both earn 24k. As individuals combined take home will be around 3.2k. Minus at least 1.5k childcare for two kids = 1700/month. On one income, 2k/month gross, no childcare, plus tax on combined income- so that would assume earnings of 1k each? So a take home of 1.9k. £200’a month better off not working. And don’t tell me dads will benefit too. 99% of women will still be the sah partner.

And yes, very judgy re. Childcare being detrimental- again you are pushing a sahm agenda.

Btw the article you link to has no relevance to your petition. It suggests sorting out minimum wage and zero hour contracts, not tax.

Your petition just seems to be about poor Londoners who can’t survive on 50k. How do people on benefits or long term sick manage? Pensioners? Nurses? Surely not everyone in london is on 50k. That and poor midlle class families who earn too much to qualify for child benefit. Diddums.

Taking from people who choose not to have children to give to those who do is pretty shitty. Are you one of those women who thinks they should get special treatment, jump queues etc because you have children?

It's about adding the option of joint taxation as well
Oh great - so financial slavery for oppressed women will be allowed to return to the UK

taxing people based on the income of others is not acceptable
I will never sign

fairertaxesnow you haven't factored in tax free child tax credits/working tax credits so its not always true that a single person pays the same tax as a family on the same income if part of the families income is not taxed because its made up of benefits. So where does the highest tax burden come in when these families are not paying tax on all their income

Oh and 1000s of the aging population including my pensioner husband still pay tax, when (if ) I get my state pension in 3 years time (after 51 years of paying in) I will still be paying tax, so in 20 years time (if we live that long) both DH and I will be right up there with the children paying the taxes that will keep the NHS, pension and benefits system and the country in general running.

I'm sorry, but how is this relevant?? In a healthy normal relationship, people don't hide income and they come to an agreement on their finances. If they are hiding income from each other or cannot agree on such matters, then they probably shouldn't be together!

Talk about losing the dressing room. Jesus.

** Just seen this bit:

Watch your patronizing tone there. I am just repeating what relationship psychologists advise.

What?? Specifically who do you mean? Which 'relationship psychologists' advise on tax policy development?

You’re very transparently pushing a SAHM agenda.

If you want to stay home then do it, but stop using spurious arguments to try to make out it’s ‘better’ than being a WOHP.

I totally support individual taxation, and the proposal you’re suggesting is riddled with problems. What about people who don’t have a partner - would they be allowed to nominate someone, a relative, friend or just some random person to be taxed with jointly if it made them better off?!

Your proposal is all about women being the ones who stop working, work very little or work in low paid jobs (but have high earning husbands!!)

Many of us in the 21st century have higher aspirations... many of us are as well educated and capable as our husbands and we don’t buy into the idea of playing second fiddle.

My proposal is not just about women, it goes both ways. It's also for women who are the main earner and have a husband/partner who stays at home, can't find a job or has a lower paid job. And for same sex couples as well.

I'd like to remark that the tone of some of the replies on this thread has become increasingly abusive and I while I welcome differing oppinions and being challenged with coherent arguments, I will not reply to irrespectful, condescending, sarcastic, etc. comments.

And just for the sake of clarification so people can stop personally attacking me, I am not a SAHM, nor am I pusing any "agenda".

I've said for years that child benefit should be based on household income. A family with one earner loses child benefit at £50k. But if a family is fortunate enough to have two earners they can earn up to £98k (£49k each) and still receive full child benefit. So the least fortunate are being penalised! How is that fair?

You’re not comparing like with like though. The family with one earner on 50k could choose to have the other parent working too if they wanted to, and earn 100k (if we’re going with the scenario of equal earners.) The reality is that the couple both earning 49k will undoubtedly have a lot of extra costs involved in earning- commute, work clothes, childcare - and at the end of the day you’re talking about two people’s working hours, not one.

The OP is at pains to point out that it’s about either gender, so could apply to SAHD as well, but let’s face facts - the vast majority of people who don’t work/work part time/ are the lower earner in a couple, are women.

I absolutely do not support any proposal which centres on keeping women in that position. Aim high- go for work which is more stimulating and interesting and rewards you better and no way would you be asking to be taxed as an appendage to your husband

I disagree with your statement of comparing like with like. You are restricting yourself again to the case of stay at home mums that could work if they wanted and their salary would be high enough that it would compensate the cost of childcare, but the reality is much more varied. Many people don't work because the job wouldn't pay enough to cover the cost of childcare. And there are also many people who have one person earning above £50k above, while the other earns a lot less, and even though they are both working, and have to pay for childcare, they start to loose the childcare benefit when families earning more have the full benefit.

The whole individual taxation + child benefit charge system does not work well and it ends up being unfair in many situations. It would be much more straightforward to have a tax free allowance that is a function of how many dependants you have and the option of being taxed on the combined income (while still retaining the option of being taxed individually if you choose to). This is how it's done in most other countries and it works well.

The tax free allowance for each dependant applies whether you have one person working or both, but it is higher for individual taxation to take into account the fact that where two people work, they have higher childcare costs. And the brackets for joint taxation are also adjusted so it is not just adding the incomes and applying the same brackets and tax rates as the individual's taxes. The joint income brackets and rates are selected to strike a balance between taxing families much more than individuals vs taxing them too little.

Not every one has joint finances, or wants them for whatever reason. There is nothing wrong with independent taxation of married women. You want to have woman in different classes - those who aren't in a relationship with kids can be taxed as an individual, but get married, or have kids and be in a relationship, and you lose your rights. Nice.

Please read the whole thread before posting a reply. The petition is about having the option to be taxed on the joint income, while still keeping individual taxation. So couples or partners would be able to request joint taxation as an option, or continue to be taxed individually as currently.

So couples or partners would be able to request joint taxation as an option, or continue to be taxed individually as currently.

And if the lower earning partner was under pressure to "opt" for joint taxation?

I did rtft actually. Don't make assumptions. HMRC would have difficulties coping with what you are suggesting, and the tax code doesn't need to be any more complex than it already is. Using the KISS principle, independent taxation is easier all around.

Poor grammar in the petition. Oh dear!

Seems to be a case of wanting individual taxation until the point you meet a bloke and want to stop work/ go part time, and then suddenly the rules should change and you get taxed jointly....