While the newspapers gleefully report the outrage that David Cameron has unleashed for a plan to give tax breaks to married couples the government, through Yvette Balls, is planning to give tax breaks to single parents.
I can't wait to hear Ms Harriet accuse the government of stigmatising married couples with this proposal.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
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3 comments:
Harperson "She will also accuse Cameron of implying that people whose personal relationships fail are responsible for the breakdown of society and for wrecking children’s lives."
And her point is ?
Fair point, but they are talking about something different, they are talking about reducing the marginal tax rate on 'lone parents', which has got to be a good thing, although explaining the maths is fiddly.
The marginal tax rate on lower-earning married spouses tends to be a lot lower than for lone parents (unless the household is claiming Working Tax Credits, in which case they are only slightly lower).
The best way of doing this is just to treat everybody the same, of course - universal benefits and flat rate tax - but I won't hold my breath.
MW - I don't have the detailed understanding of the Tax Code to be able to assess the impact of the proposed policy changes on each group or to assess the relative 'fairness' of each policy.
What pisses me off is the political uproar that one policy generated then a few days later another policy is launched that does a very similar thing but to a different section of the population. If the Tory policy stigmatises single parents then the Labour policy stigmatises married couples.
As you say, the best way would be to treat everyone the same.
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