Child Benefit axed for higher income families

SusanC_2

gravitytolls wrote: »

Hands up who really believes we'd pay less tax if ANYTHING were scrapped?

IIRC I calculated from the figures in the last budget that approximately 1/3 of expenditure was welfare. (I don't recall however whether I included education and healthcare in the calculation.)

doctorseuss

shop-to-drop wrote: »

What about the tax credit forms do you state pre salary sacrifice income or post. I stated pre was I a fool?

No idea I've never claimed anything like this but essentially if you look at my P60 or SA then my gross income is my original gross salary minus salary sacrifice schemes and the income tax I pay is on the remainder. That's sort of the whole point, e.g. I benefit to the tune of 40% of the £243 so it's like getting £100 off your nursery bill (except I have a sneaking belief that if childcare vouchers were abolished nurseries would gradually drop their charges).

There must be something on the HMRC website about this?

SusanC_2

gonzo127 wrote: »

I still stick by my beliefs that someone who is on 44k a year should not be reliant on the £100 a month benefit and if they are they do need to really look at their finances, just look at the debt free wannabe forum for inspiration on what can actually be achieved, and just remember you have got over 2 years to reorganise your finances before this comes into effect

I wonder if rather than actually being reliant on it, it is just that people were expecting to have that money and so feel the loss when it is suddenly taken away. We do not rely on child benefit and it would certainly not be a struggle without it but if it was stopped for us we would probably reduce the contributions into our duaghters pension.

SusanC_2

Loz01 wrote: »

If people are just paying it into a savings account then it is time to cut it for some families! It is free money after all just for having kids... if you work full time and dont have them then you dont get anything back either.

Which families though?

doctorseuss

Loz01 wrote: »

It is free money after all just for having kids...

Yeah it's a bit weird. We've never claimed any benefits but this one simply turns up in your account every so often, presumably because in the blur of my daughter arriving a couple of years ago we signed something somewhere and mailed it off along with all the other stuff.

Perhaps just not automatically giving you the form when you've got a 1 day old baby in your arms at the hospital might save a few billion?

Essentially, if Bob Crow is unemployed at the end of all this I'll be happy, whatever happens :rotfl:

SusanC_2

doctorseuss wrote: »

Yeah it's a bit weird. We've never claimed any benefits but this one simply turns up in your account every so often, presumably because in the blur of my daughter arriving a couple of years ago we signed something somewhere and mailed it off along with all the other stuff.

Perhaps just not automatically giving you the form when you've got a 1 day old baby in your arms at the hospital might save a few billion?

If you wanted the child trust fund you had to claim CB.

weezl74

Loz01 wrote: »

It is free money after all just for having kids...

yes in the same sense as the state pension is free money just for being older than 65, or incapacity benefit is free money just for being unwell.

However, children are part of the vulnerable groups in society that we set out to make provision for in the uk.

onlyroz

minerva_windsong wrote: »

the whole point of Child Benefit was that it was paid to the primary caregiver.

I thought it was given to the person who sent the form off?

snugglepet20

The problem with the people who say don't have children you cannot afford is that in one circumstance you may be able to afford your children when groceries are £40 a week, a 3 bedroomed house costs 50k and full-time work is plentiful. Fast forward 5 years groceries are £70, the house costs 200k and jobs are scarce. None of that is your fault.
Plus if you look at countries where poverty is common they certainly don't have less children and the abortion rate is through the roof in places like Russia. The primary fuction of all living things is to reproduce, scientific fact.

doctorseuss

weezl74 wrote: »

yes in the same sense as the state pension is free money just for being older than 65, or incapacity benefit is free money just for being unwell.

However, children are part of the vulnerable groups in society that we set out to make provision for in the uk.

Right, so we shouldn't make provision as a society for those that aren't vulnerable (I was going to say invulnerable but that isn't what I meant at all - Superman, I'm afraid we can no longer pay your JSA).

But we do. Mind you, another factor here is cost of administration. If it costs more to administer a very fair but complicated means tested system than it would save then that's no good either.