Stay at home parents?

robindunne1

This government has consistently failed to recognise the importance of the family, and the importance of a parent to look after their own children. My wife is not recognised by the state whatsoever for fulfilling one of the hardest jobs around – being a full time carer for our two wonderful daughters.

They will even pay childcare costs for someone else to look after my children through tax credits, but are not interested if a parent looks after their own children.

I cannot get my hands on my wife’s taxable allowance – making it more tax efficient to push my wife into a job and the kids into child care.

There is no single persons discount for council tax purposes even though she has no income. I know this is a tax based on property values and not income, but if you take a look at the people who do benefit from the single persons discount it is clear that they do so because of a low income.

Surely what is best for a child is to have one of its own parents looking after them. Let working partners get their hands on the tax allowance of the full time carer of their children. It’s worth £30 a week.

Why are tax credits and benefits worked out on household income, when the real net income can be so much different simply because both parents work. Double standards.

There is an opinion that only the rich would benefit from such a move. My family cannot be considered wealthy by any stretch of the imagination and I object to paying a relatively higher amount of tax to pay for childminders to look after other people’s children – when I can barely afford to look after my own.

Petition here:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Family-Tax/

butterflymum

Excellent post.

exil

Well the petition is about the married person's allowance, not an arrangement for stay-at-home mothers/carers, so your arguments are not really relevant. A Married Person's allowance would presumably be paid to all couples, whether both working or not, or with children or not.

robindunne1

My point is that all benefits are worked out on household gross income - but the net income can be a completely different thing due to the amount of people working in the home.

There is no policy in place whatsoever to give a mother/father the choice to stay at home other than to bite the bullet and sacrifice their taxable allowance to the detriment of the financial position of the entire family.

Read the details from the petition creator and you will see his aim is the same re my original post.

WHA

exil wrote:

Well the petition is about the married person's allowance, not an arrangement for stay-at-home mothers/carers, so your arguments are not really relevant. A Married Person's allowance would presumably be paid to all couples, whether both working or not, or with children or not.

No, I don't read it that way at all. There is no married person's allowance.

What the OP is getting at is that each partner whether married or co-habiting have annual personal tax allowances. If they each earn, say £10,000 (i.e. a part time job each), there total household income is £20,000 but as they both have a personal allowance of £5k, they only pay tax on £10,000. Now, if instead of both working, if one works and the other doesn't, and earns £20,000, only that person uses their personal allowance, the non-working partner's is wasted, so tax is paid on £15,000. So same family income, but a lot more tax.

That is what isn't fair and needs to be changed. Unused (or wasted) allowances of one partner should be transferable to the other partner (of course with agreement of both parties).

As it stands, it encourages both partners to work, meaning the increased likelihood of needing to pay for expensive child care and loss of quality time for the children with their parents.

CIS

but if you take a look at the people who do benefit from the single persons discount it is clear that they do so because of a low income.

It doesn't matter if your poor or a millionaire, if you live by yourself you can get it.

Gambler

robindunne1 wrote:

This government has consistently failed to recognise the importance of the family, and the importance of a parent to look after their own children. My wife is not recognised by the state whatsoever for fulfilling one of the hardest jobs around – being a full time carer for our two wonderful daughters.

They will even pay childcare costs for someone else to look after my children through tax credits, but are not interested if a parent looks after their own children.

I cannot get my hands on my wife’s taxable allowance – making it more tax efficient to push my wife into a job and the kids into child care.

There is no single persons discount for council tax purposes even though she has no income. I know this is a tax based on property values and not income, but if you take a look at the people who do benefit from the single persons discount it is clear that they do so because of a low income.

Surely what is best for a child is to have one of its own parents looking after them. Let working partners get their hands on the tax allowance of the full time carer of their children. It’s worth £30 a week.

Why are tax credits and benefits worked out on household income, when the real net income can be so much different simply because both parents work. Double standards.

There is an opinion that only the rich would benefit from such a move. My family cannot be considered wealthy by any stretch of the imagination and I object to paying a relatively higher amount of tax to pay for childminders to look after other people’s children – when I can barely afford to look after my own.

Petition here:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Family-Tax/

Excellent post. I heard a caller on talksport the other week saying the same thing.

We have both worked all our working lives (16 years) but our second child is 9 months old and my partner has just given up a very well paid job to look after our son.

The extra £100 per month I could get from this arrangement would help me to pay the council the extraordinary amount of money for the privelige of my weekly trips to the recycling centre and being stranded when the snow comes down.

samcantcope

Thanks for this, have signed the petition,

I am also a stay at home mom to 2 DD aged 3 and 1 and we get hardly any tax credits, I now have to pay for my prescriptions, as I have suffered arthritis since I was 13 and need regular medication to keep it under control but because it isnt life threatening I have to pay, but if I dont take them I am in agony and struggle to move.

I have worked since I was 16 and even when I had my 1st child,but when I had my 2nd child it would cost more than I earn so I gave up work and live on a tight budget which isnt easy but at least I have time to enjoy my kids.

Me and my husband feel like we are being punished for working. but we have never been on the dole and hope we never need to.

butterflymum

Bumping as this deserves tocatch as wide an audience as possible - a very worthy topic and one close to my own heart.

butterflymum

Bumping as this deserves to catch as wide an audience as possible - a very worthy topic and one close to my own heart.

butterflymum

Bumping as this deserves to catch as wide an audience as possible - a very worthy topic and one close to my own heart.