Tax Credit withdrawal rate means we work for 30p/£1!!!

grahamliza4

We are 22 and 23, have a 10m old and a 2.5yr old.

I'm self employed 16hrs/week earning £7k. Husband works full time on £18k.

We don't qualify for Housing Benefit or council Tax Benefit. We both study part time (engineering/accountancy)

Babies go to nursery two days/week so I can work&study.

For every £1 extra we now earn we pay tax at 22%, NI at 11%(husband employed) or 8% (me self-employed), our tax credit is reduced by 37p per £1.

So I get 33p, Husband gets 30p.
30p per pound is all we get! So for £6/hour it's really worth just £1.80!:eek:

How can they justify such an awful system?



I am told that if an unfortunate set of loopholes in the maths of tax credits that mean people get into this position but honestly!!!!!!!!!!!

I note from entitledto.com that as a single parent I would be getting more than our net earnings are now as a single parent through various benefits.
:rotfl:

Why does the system not help families? And why is there no distinction between children of pre-school age, ie home all day and school-age children, ie gone at leat 9-3?

I find it perfectly acceptable that somebody (single parent or part of couple) could be expected to work part time if their kids are away 9-3 (and yes I know there are holidays but there are ways round that), but I think there should be special allowances for children being under 5. I want to be at home while they are small and I'm being forced back to work for 30p/£1!

Anyone agree with me here? :T

withabix

I've a solution:

Abolish tax credits, then everyone could actually earn all of the money they get.

That would be much fairer.

poppyscorner

Nothing to add other than I completely agree with your whole post I watch this happen all the time where I live I work part time and hubby works P/T self employed we are the only people in our street that actually pay our rent:eek: and whilst I am not by any means critiscising (sp?) anyone who needs HB support the system stinks and some people are worse off for going out to work why do I go ? for self esteem resons and because I am a very independant person and with boys aged 4yrs and 14wks it keeps me sane;)

I think lots are in the same boat myself included and whilst there are some very needing people out there who deserve every penny they have and in fact probably deserve more there is the trash who abuse the system and can talk the talk how many cases do you read on this forum of genuine people needing things like DLA only to be told they can't have it and they have to fight to get every penny they should not have to do that ever IMHO as I once read in someone elses post that it is because often these people don't like to complain and they play things down.

Anyway that is totally unrelated to your post yes they do stick the boot into families and my hubby left me once I have never had so much spare money unbelievable but true.

So much for not adding anything:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
I'm shutting up now

poppy

grahamliza4

In the past few weeks I've had 16 award notices. They all say diff things and latest one says the same as the last despite me telling them our income will be at least 6000 higher than 0607. They say 'any discrepancy' can be resolved at the end of the year!

Meaning they'll overpay all year and then next year we'll get 50p/month!

Grrrrrrrrrrr:mad:

I try to play by these peoples stupid rules but they system is so far behind itself!

I'm off to do a couple of hours work for my 30p/£1 now.

astonsmummy

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=365935

Gaz83

Regarding the 37p thing, it's the way it goes. It's only natural that Tax Credits drop as income rises, and it's a judgement call as to whether you think working the extra hours for any income makes it worthwhile or not.

Scarlett1

goodness what did folkes moan about before tax credits came into place ?,

Scarlett1

grahamliza4 wrote: »

We are 22 and 23, have a 10m old and a 2.5yr old.

I'm self employed 16hrs/week earning £7k. Husband works full time on £18k.

We don't qualify for Housing Benefit or council Tax Benefit. We both study part time (engineering/accountancy)

Babies go to nursery two days/week so I can work&study.

For every £1 extra we now earn we pay tax at 22%, NI at 11%(husband employed) or 8% (me self-employed), our tax credit is reduced by 37p per £1.

So I get 33p, Husband gets 30p.
30p per pound is all we get! So for £6/hour it's really worth just £1.80!:eek:

How can they justify such an awful system?



I am told that if an unfortunate set of loopholes in the maths of tax credits that mean people get into this position but honestly!!!!!!!!!!!

I note from entitledto.com that as a single parent I would be getting more than our net earnings are now as a single parent through various benefits.
:rotfl:

Why does the system not help families? And why is there no distinction between children of pre-school age, ie home all day and school-age children, ie gone at leat 9-3?

I find it perfectly acceptable that somebody (single parent or part of couple) could be expected to work part time if their kids are away 9-3 (and yes I know there are holidays but there are ways round that), but I think there should be special allowances for children being under 5. I want to be at home while they are small and I'm being forced back to work for 30p/£1!

Anyone agree with me here? :T

a 25k joint income and you feel hard done by compared to single parents ? :rolleyes:

bonnie_2

Why should the system help families, you get child benifit and tax credit, what else could they do, it's your choice to have children and you earn £25k, i don't see a problem, i know people who are really struggling. We get £20,000 and have 3 children and have £100 a week left over after paying for everything. Its all to do with planning and budgeting. We don't get help with rent or health costs either.

grahamliza4

What I feel hard done by about is that a single parent working full time for 25k gets more in benefits than a couple who are both working and together earn the same money. Even though their cost of living would be less as there's one less mouth to feed, you don't need a second car, you get 25% off council tax bill. As a household, minus 1 adult would reduce the cost of general living.

I don't like the way the system is biased towards single parents at a cost to families. It's almost worth husband moving out, as the benefits I would get are unreal. I am disgusted by this apparent tendancy to tax the individual but assess the household for benefits purposes. It promotes a drop in family values (me kicking husband out to avoid bankrupcy), and by all means give single parents the help they need but don't apply the same system to two-parent families as it's blatantly not the same thing.

It was a bad day for Britain 10 years ago and I don't expect today's changes will bring any more sensible ideas to the table.

Things can only get better?!
:rotfl:

grahamliza4

My main point here was that there should be a system in place that allows women (or men if desired) to be at home with their children until they reach 4 or 5. I think it is unrealistic to leave a 6m old baby in a nusery 8-6 5days a week to work.

Some sort of 'home responsibilities' loan that can be repayed when all children are at school and work goes back to normal or similar.

In my defence I must also point out that we pay out almost £2k a year on course fees for our studies, plus nearly £4k for a huge loan that consolidates all the debts from our studies from previous years where we earned less and therefore had less money to live on.

And before everyone points out that we shouldnt want to have children, study and work all at once, etc. Full time study was unrealistic for us with children (and my husbands is tied in with work), and I have absolutely no desire to wait until I am 40 to have children at the expense of a comfortable life with a good career, etc. I think people are meant to have their children between the ages of 18 and 30, for mainly biological reasons.

Arrgh:mad: !

Rant over now, sorry everyone!:o