Spring budget - what tax to cut?

[Fraidycat]

BUT this comes with the sting in the tail that this involved formally giving HMRC permission to collect household level information for the first time ever.

Dont they do that already for child tax credits? When i google it says child tax credits are based on household income..

[sreed]

Dont they do that already for child tax credits? When i google it says child tax credits are based on household income..

You’re probably right. I based this on a tweet from the IFS guy, he might’ve got it wrong live tweeting.

[some guy some where]

Kicking in at £60k means it impacts fewer families ideally it would be binned but a higher starting point and taper at 10% rather than 20% is a vast improvement on what was there before

I don't disagree with this being an improvement, but they should abolish the charge completely and remove the 2 child cap - they should be encouraging families of all income levels to have more children especially given the way the demographics is going, there will be no one around to pay state pensions...

[Fraidycat]

I don't disagree with this being an improvement, but they should abolish the charge completely and remove the 2 child cap - they should be encouraging families of all income levels to have more children especially given the way the demographics is going, there will be no one around to pay state pensions...

I dont think anyone who works for living in encouraged to have an extra kid the for the £15 per week additional child benefit.

We need some real incentives like this:
Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has promised that women who have four or more children will never pay income tax again.

However in the UK the elites have decided we are going to import immigrants instead..

[sreed]

I don't disagree with this being an improvement, but they should abolish the charge completely and remove the 2 child cap - they should be encouraging families of all income levels to have more children especially given the way the demographics is going, there will be no one around to pay state pensions...

The 2 child cap does not apply to Child Benefit. It only prevents parents from claiming child tax credit or UC for any third or subsequent child born after April 2017.

[vetran]

Don't they do that already for child tax credits? When i google it says child tax credits are based on household income..

No Child Benefit not tax credits its on either 'partner' in the household. So if your Girlfriend who earns £30k claims CB for her kids and you don't have any but earn £60k you get to pay back what she is claiming. From what I understand they don't have to be your kids or even your adopted kids. If you both earnt £49,999 then the tax clawback isn't payable. It penalises families that have a primary earner.

On disability they set on the household income so if you have grown up kids and the household earns > £100k your disability payments dwindle.

https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit-tax-charge

it may not be a massive incentive but £2k means people are less likely to live together, if I get a Girlfriend with a council house, I wouldn't move in or move her into my house.

[Fraidycat]

No its on either 'parent' in the household. So if your Girlfriend who earns £30k claims CB for her kids and you don't have any but earn £60k you get to pay back what she is claiming.

Yes we know that appiles to child benefit, we were talking about precedents for using household income, and so I mentioned child tax credits.

[SueEllen]

Yes we know that appiles to child benefit, we were talking about precedents for using household income, and so I mentioned child tax credits.

I remember my mother saying that it was Thatcher who stopped household income being collected. As apparently before then a married man would have to deal with his wife's tax affairs.

This came up from the Commons Library - https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk...fings/sn00870/

The system of independent taxation


Since the introduction of independent taxation in 1990, all individuals have been assessed for tax as separate persons. This reform reversed a principle that had underpinned the tax system for almost two hundred years: that a married woman’s income was simply part of her husband’s income, and should be taxed as such.


The introduction of the married couple’s allowance


As part of this reform a new tax allowance, the married couple’s allowance (MCA), was introduced. The MCA could be claimed by all married couples. In April 2000 the MCA was withdrawn from all couples, except those who had already reached the age of 65 or over. This remains the case. As a consequence only those couples in which one partner is at least 89 years old will be entitled to claim the MCA in the coming tax year (2023/24).

[Bluenose]

Spain has a flat rate tax system? That's news to me, I thought it was a progressive system. Perhaps I misunderstood what you were saying.

It’s 24% flat for brits for up to five tax years.

[Snooky]

Since the introduction of independent taxation in 1990, all individuals have been assessed for tax as separate persons. This reform reversed a principle that had underpinned the tax system for almost two hundred years: that a married woman’s income was simply part of her husband’s income, and should be taxed as such.

The thing that amazes me the most about this is that it didn't happen till 1990

I'm certain my wife and I had both been working for several years, being taxed independently, before that? But I'm getting old and forgetful so maybe not.