Cameron hint over child benefit cuts for better-off

[Mich the Tester]

I've probably said this hundreds if not thousands of times but here goes again. All the government should do is issue them with a card (much like a normal chip and pin one) and instead of receiving cash their money gets added to the card. This card can then be used to purchase essential items only, so when you try to use it to pay for alcohol, cigarettes, petrol and anything classified as a luxury item perfume etc it will be declined.

Yep, but there are people on this earth who would die without their Special Brew.

[doodab]

I don't think petrol should necessarily be classed as a luxury, there are places in the UK where public transport is truly dire and something like shopping, taking kids to the doctors, or even attending a job interview would be next to impossible without a car.

[Notascooby]

Yep, but there are people on this earth who would die without their Special Brew.

There's a "special" allowance for that and you can get the benefits paid more frequently so you don't go on a bender and spend it all at once.

[Mich the Tester]

I don't think petrol should necessarily be classed as a luxury, it's an expensive high, but still a lot cheaper than crystal meth.

ftfy

[The Spartan]

I don't think petrol should necessarily be classed as a luxury, there are places in the UK where public transport is truly dire and something like shopping, taking kids to the doctors, or even attending a job interview would be next to impossible without a car.

Yep I wasn't thinking about those who live in rural areas either, you are indeed right

[IR35 Avoider]

The governments proposals were bad.

I don't think child benefit is a bad benefit: in my ideal world only low universal benefits would exist, so that there was no disincentive to work (because you lose no benefit if you do) and child benefit would become the "per-person" benefit that stopped each child from starving. (Would probably have to increase, haven't considered the numbers.)

If you are going to cut it, then do it in a way that reduces administrative complexity rather than increases it. The tax system is, or can be made, simple, and looks at individuals, not families. The benefits system does look at family circumstances, so is already necessarily complex. (The "unfairness" of the proposed changes is precisely because they are tax-system linked and therefore can't easily look at family circumstances.) So abolish universal child benefit and introduce a means tested benefit that is part of the income of the benefits classes. With regard to the working poor, note that tax credits are (by my definition) part of the benefits system, so working people do not necessarily lose out.