Saturday, January 03, 2009

Tax and benefit system punishes committed relationships

Briefing: bizarre, but true: for many people receieving benefits, parents are a lot better off if they live in different homes than if they live together. Not only does the state not support the most committed relationship, which is most beneficial for the children - marriage - but it punishes any kind of stable cohabitation.

From the Telegraph, in part: he report, Individualists Who Co-Operate, said the system "penalises" couples who live together, adding to accusations that Labour's taxes and handouts are encouraging the death of traditional family structures.
It found, in one case, that where a lone mother earned £10,000 a year, and her partner earned £25,000, they were £5,473 worse off if they decided to live together. If the lone mother did not work, they were £4,522 worse off for cohabiting.
The report echoed claims that Government policies have led to the "perpetuation of single-parent families", adding: "Potential partners on low incomes (precisely those who can only make ends meet by combining their efforts) are discouraged from partnering (or re-partnering)."

One in five of those who stopped receiving benefits did so to move in with a partner, it said, suggesting that more couples might live together if they were rewarded in tax breaks.

Read the full Telegraph story.

Buy the report here.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony;

Pope Leo XIII's Prayer to St Michael

Holy Michael, Archangel, defend us in the day of battle. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust down to Hell Satan, and all wicked spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen