howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
courtesy of the daily mail, wht do members think of the idea?
Conservative backbenchers yesterday tried to push David Cameron into giving tax breaks to married couples.
At least ten MPs backed a Commons amendment which would allow husbands and wives to share income tax allowances - a reform that would benefit the couples by up to nearly £1,500.
Their aim was to lever the Prime Minister into making good his longstanding pledge to shore up marriage.
Under pressure: Tory MPs want David Cameron, to introduce the measure, backed by ten Tory MPs and tabled by Congleton MP Fiona Bruce,
Mr Cameron repeated his promise in his speech on feckless fathers earlier this month when he declared: 'I want us to recognise marriage in the tax system so, as a country, we show we value commitment.'
Among the Conservatives backing the amendment were senior backbenchers Edward Leigh and David Amess, Congleton MP Fiona Bruce, and Witham MP Priti Patel.
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A supporter said: 'David Cameron and other senior Conservatives repeatedly expressed their commitment to recognising marriage in the tax system during the last Parliament.
'This was a key policy response to the challenge of social breakdown - the Broken Britain phenomenon - and became an important manifesto pledge.
'The commitment got into the Coalition agreement, but no action has yet been taken.'
Critics say the decline of marriage is a central factor behind rising social disruption and family break-up.
Broken: Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith says family break up costs the country £100bn a year
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has warned that this costs the country £100billion a year.
The rebel backbenchers yesterday put down an amendment to the Finance Bill which is setting Chancellor George Osborne's March Budget into law.
A transferable income tax allowance would mean that a working husband could take over the tax-free allowance of a wife who stayed at home to bring up children, or vice versa.
It would be worth up to £1,495 to a one-earner couple.
The backbench initiative, which is unlikely to become law, was attacked by Labour.
During Labour's years in power the last tax break for husbands and wives, married couples allowance, was removed, and the importance of marriage eroded to the point where officials were told to remove the word from public documents.
Labour Treasury spokesman David Hanson said: 'It is astonishing that at a time when millions of families and pensioners are being hit hard by deep spending cuts and tax rises, the first priority of David Cameron's restless Tory backbenchers is unfair tax cuts only for a few.
'And the proposed multi-billion pound marriage tax break would penalise those who are separated, widowed or divorced - many of whom are already being hit hard by cuts to tax credits and childcare support.'
Mr Cameron is thought to be holding back on a firm promise of tax breaks for married couples on the grounds that the country cannot afford it.
Calculations by the Centre for Social Justice think-tank suggest it would cost £600million to give a transferable tax allowance to married parents of young children, and £3.2billion to extend it to all married couples.
Happy family: The Prime Minister has repeatedly promised to recognise marriage in the tax system. in the run-up to last year's election, Mr Cameron said: 'I just think as a society, saying that marriage is a good thing and celebrating it and encouraging it, including through the tax system, is something that most societies do in Europe. It's very sensible for us to do as well.'
The idea also appeared in the the Coalition agreement which says that a transferable allowance for married couples will be introduced.
But it gives no details or timetables, and it allows the Lib Dems to abstain on any vote to bring it in.
The Lib Dems have threatened to oppose the measure, and have successfully insisted that their own policy of raising the personal allowance to £10,000 must take priority.
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
two hopes,and they are both dead.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
maybe you are correct brian, the manifesto looks like being on the short list for the booker prize for fiction.
do members agree that married couples should get help through the tax system?
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
in princable,but in practice no.
cant cameron/osbourne agreeing in these hard up times.
