Child benefit scrapped for high earners

[IR35 Avoider]

the admin involved in testing this will probably rule out any cost savings

As I understand it no. The child benefit will be removed from higher rate taxpayers via their tax return, which can (in theory) be processed entirely by government computer without human intervention.

So the only cost is the time of the higher-rate taxpayer filling in a tax return, if he wasn't already going to do so.

Based on what I know of permie higher-rate taxpayers that don't currently fill in returns, there should be an additional benefit to HMRC in that they will also for the first time pay tax on interest etc. that they've never bothered declaring previously. (I'm assuming, perhaps wrongly, that people who haven't filled in returns previously, will do so once this comes in.)

Also, I suppose those who don't like filling in forms could simply stop claiming the benefit, which would mean a net reduction in ongoing admin.

[Boudica]

the communists didn't remove this benefit because they want the 'middle' ground and 'middle' income people, get them all addicted to benefits and thinking they 'deserve' it...easy

too simple for everyone to pay less tax and for the people who have children to pay for them themselves

remember £1 of benefit costs £5 to deliver

[MarillionFan]

So this is easy. Just pay your wife from your LTD to get the double allowance.

Next!

[SizeZero]

I agree with the Ruskie!

What is it with people that they seem to be desperate to have kids and don't consider whether they can afford to clothe and feed them, or does said desperation throw logic out the window???

With respect, a tenner a week is hardly enough to clothe or feed any child (my teenagers can eat more than that in one trip to the fridge after a night out ). But to some, it helps. And now, only who contribute least will get the most, when most of us know that it's just as hard (if not harder) to raise two kids with on 44k with a mortgage as it is for a family with two kids on benefits with housing paid for.

It is WRONG that a family with two people both earning 43k can get it, yet a family were one parent earns 44k cannot. 44k is a decent and above average salary on a national level, but it's not enough to pay a mortgage.

You cannot have it both ways. You cannot have a society full of decent, upright, moral young children being raised, when both parents have to work every hour god sends just to keep a roof over their heads. Nor can you put/keep a roof over your head without putting your kids in childcare and both working, or so it seems. Admittedly, this happened under the last several governments but there doesn't seem anyone willing to face or address the fact that a family-friendly government and family-friendly employment regimes will produce the kind of children who can aspire to be great people. There are too many screwed up latchkey kids already, too many who turn to gangs for a sense of family that is lacking in the (empty during office hours) home - is that the future you'd want for yours?