Child benefit to be scrapped for higher rate tax payers from 2013

ninky_2

StevieJ wrote: »

I think as LIR alluded to, why should child benefit have to compensate for doing the housework? Childcare yes and this could be included in a increased figure for joint (above HR rate) to compensate.

there's a lot more housework in households with children. as a couple without kids me and OH can get away with doing very little but i know from being in homes with kids that isn't the case when you have little ones.

tyllwyd

ninky wrote: »

there is always going to be some threshold with taxation. you could say you are already being penalised by tax thresholds because the percentage your husband earns in the high income bracket gets taxed more - whereas if you both were below the bracket (but earning same joint income), that income would be subject to less tax.

i point to the fact that the grumbles seem to have everything to do with jealousy of those who will continue to get this benefit and very little to do with actual genuine need of those who are losing it.

there is an interesting biblical parable about the workers in the vineyard that has much to teach about the pettiness of human envy even to atheists like myself. i feel that many should familiarise themselves with the moral of the story.

I'm not jealous of anyone. I've been expecting them to take CB away for households with higher incomes like ours. But I don't expect them to come up with such a half-baked way of implementing it.

lostinrates

ninky wrote: »

there's a lot more housework in households with children. as a couple without kids me and OH can get away with doing very little but i know from being in homes with kids that isn't the case when you have little ones.

Agreed.There is certainly more tidying with children (and washing, and washing up etc etc) and more ''SOS'' spills etc. Routine cleaning of the house...windows, hoovering, dusting, door knobs and light switches etc....takes me time without kids too...but of course, I have other things of choice...pets, which certainly impacts. when, a lon time ago, I had two kids living with me I do remember the difficulty (and often failure) to keep things even vaguely tidy at times, often moving the mess to one side of the room to clean, then to the other to clean under the mess..but not clearing the mess.

bendix

StevieJ wrote: »

A touch of pedantic semantics there, are you then saying that child benefit is a service because it is not given to all you have to claim it?

Jeez, Stevie . . how can it be pedantics? Don't you think the clue might be in the names of both? Child benefit is a benefit. The National Health Service is . . well . . go figure.