MSE News: Budget 2012: what the child benefit overhaul means for you

bromleymum

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

The fact that it would be fraudulent not to?

Yes, absolutely, I take your point.

But we are taxed as individuals in this country based on what we earn, not on who we live with or whether we have children. But not now....now it matters for tax purposes how we lead our private lives.

And before anyone points out that it should matter and you should be taxed as a family then you can't have it both ways because we lost all tax breaks for being married and having children years ago.

Also, there is a still the debate about whether child benefit is a welfare benefit or a tax allowance. It is made via the tax office unlike all other benefits.

And it replaced the old family allowance and tax relief for having children.

I just think the tories have created a administrative nightmare. It's purely there so they can say "look, we're not just bashing the poor, we're taking money off the rich as well."

royalsteve

Well, I am one of the unlucky ones and I am fuming

Due to alot of ilness in the family, I went from self employed to permanent, a year later i took a 15% pay drop and now this - ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!

Families where one person works are being penalised over and over again - Child Tax Credit and now Child Benefit.

I earn £60600, I am not rich, far from it as i live in the south!! I drive a 10 year old peugeot. I have 2 kids to support and my wife doesnt and cant work. We havent been on a foreign holiday for 10 years as we cant afford it.

I voted conservative and ive just informed my out of touch mp that i wont be voting for his party again.

How is fair that a family with 2 working parents each on £49999 get the full Child Benefit, whereas those like us where one parent earns £60K and the other nothing, get nothing. What moron came up with that illogical policy!!!

I repeat we are NOT rich!!

It makes me laugh that pensioners and press go on about the budget affecting them badly, £80 a year hahahahaha - how would you feel about £5000 worse off a year!!

My parents are pensioners and they are MILES better off than us. No mortgage, no kids to pay for, hardly any costs like petrol, etc. So stop bleating.

Im quitting and ill either:-
1. Go on the dole - at least well be entitled to everything we can get. My wife had cancer and other than treatment we got NO support because we are too rich, what a joke! I also dont have to do my stressful job.
2. Go back contracting.
3. Work abroad.

royalsteve

21Twinkle wrote: »

All this talk about £50k + - sorry but you chose to have children, nobody forced you - if you can't afford to survive on £50k or even £100k - there is something seriously wrong with you.....
I think that they should have stopped ALL child benefits if the joint income exceeds £25k.

clueless. i hope you have kids. you will change your mind. everything has gone up ALOT in the last 10 years. Double/Triple compared to 10 years ago. A basic 3 bed house in the south where i live costs £300K. If you earn 60K, thats about 60% of salary gone on just the mortgage. Most people dont earn 60K

thelawnet

royalsteve wrote: »

Well, I am one of the unlucky ones and I am fuming

Due to alot of ilness in the family, I went from self employed to permanent, a year later i took a 15% pay drop and now this - ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!

Families where one person works are being penalised over and over again - Child Tax Credit and now Child Benefit.

I earn £60600, I am not rich, far from it as i live in the south!! I drive a 10 year old peugeot. I have 2 kids to support and my wife doesnt and cant work. We havent been on a foreign holiday for 10 years as we cant afford it.

You're obviously spending your money on *something*, cos while I agree that £60k is not rich, there's certainly room for a holiday there....

Im quitting and ill either:-
1. Go on the dole - at least well be entitled to everything we can get. My wife had cancer and other than treatment we got NO support because we are too rich, what a joke! I also dont have to do my stressful job.
2. Go back contracting.
3. Work abroad.

I would have a look at contracting, you'll pay much less tax and you'll get your child benefit back too. Higher pay as well, typically.

thelawnet

royalsteve wrote: »

clueless. i hope you have kids. you will change your mind. everything has gone up ALOT in the last 10 years. Double/Triple compared to 10 years ago. A basic 3 bed house in the south where i live costs £300K. If you earn 60K, thats about 60% of salary gone on just the mortgage. Most people dont earn 60K

A 25 year mortgage at SVR (3.99% - I think you can do better?) on 90% of £300k is £1439/month.

That's actually 42% of a £60k salary (net of tax/NI), which is not 60%, or even close to it. You've still got £2k/month left over, which is more than many households have to start with.

FBaby

bromleymum wrote: »

They are going to live together and as a little reward to my friend, he will now have to pay £2500 extra tax. Thats the equivalent of receiving a 5k pay cut.

He won't have to pay extra tax if she stops claiming child benefit on the account of living with someone earning over £60K.

This is the dilemma. I have always supported my children and taken pride in it. When I moved with my partner, I made it clear that I didn't expect him to support them. I am a strong believer that as I chose to have children with my EX, it is his and my responsibility to support them. All I expect from my new partner is to respect my children and treat them well which he certainly does. He and my children get along great, but the boundaries are clear for everyone, his is NOT their dad, they have one dad who they adore and see weekly. This works out for everyone.

Now the governement is intefering in what is a personal arrangement. Either my partner will have to start paying for my children through no choice of his, or I will have to lose what I am entitled to because of living with someone who earns too much but who doesn't contribute towards my children. I can accept the notion that by chosing to live with him, he is expected to support me if required (ie, if I lost my job), but I don't see why that should apply to my children, especially when the government makes a point of protecting step-parents who are the partner of the nrp.

So we will now be forced to muddle up our finances regarding the children, ie. he will claim childcare vouchers, and try to see what else he can do so not to lose out, and I will give him the difference with the child benefit I will still be able to receive... or if there is no way around, I will give up child benefits, but we will have to revaluate my contribution to household bills to take into consideration the fact that I will have less income... or even better, I might have to tell my ex that he will need to start paying more maintenance for his children... at the moment we have an arrangement that he pays less than what csa would need to contribute because of his financial circumstances. Considering he didn't pay a penny for years, this is an improvement. We have finally managed to reach an agreement when we can be civil to each other which benefit the children greatly, but if I am to lose money for our children, then shouldn't HE be providing more.... I can already see his response when I explain that his family will have to do with less because my partner earns too much....

bromleymum

FBaby wrote: »

He won't have to pay extra tax if she stops claiming child benefit on the account of living with someone earning over £60K.

'Tis true but currently the only way non working mothers get their national insurance contributions covered is via claiming child benefit for a child under 12.

I do think regardless of the rights and wrongs of who should get child benefit, asking a partner who is not the father to take a financial hit for moving in with a family, is a step too far.

cw18

what a totally ridiculous and highly complicated system - even putting aside the potential unfairness of a family with 2 incomes still getting it while a family with just one income (less than the combined of the other) losing it completely.

surely it would be less costly in admin charges - and a lot fairer - to merge it with Child Tax Credits !!!!!


it sounds to me as if it could well cost more to operate this system than it actually saves the government in CB payments which is total madness :eek:

Yonkersliz

Is it possible to sacrifice part of your salary into your pension to bring your income under the £50k threshold....I'm sure you could things like this when it came to child tax credit...... My husband makes £55k, but we would consider shifting £5k of that into his pension in order to keep the tax free child benefit. please reply

jenni1022

Am I right in thinking that you have to earn over 50k before tax for the cuts in child benefit ?
Am confused by all of this