Credit Action - Better thinking about money
About us Training Resources Publications Publications Ongoing Projects Press Section

Tax system does not recognise family unit

Families in which only one married parent works are being unfairly penalised by the tax system in Britain compared to those in other developed countries according to a new report, The Telegraph reports.

The study by CARE, the Christian social policy charity, claims that a one-earner married couple with children whose wages are up to £33,000 pays a third more of their income to the taxman in the UK than families elsewhere in the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD).

The 50-page study advocates the introduction of "transferable allowances" for married couples which would allow the non-working partner to transfer their tax allowance to the working partner.

The scheme is understood to be the favoured option for the Conservatives, and particularly David Cameron, who has pledged to recognise marriage in the tax system if the Conservatives win power. It would "put the UK in line with the practice in many other countries," the CARE study said.

One of the co-authors of the report, Leonard Beighton, added: "The tax system does not recognise the family unit. It sees taxpayers as individuals, regardless of their family circumstances. This is immensely damaging to the social fabric of the country and must be addressed by an incoming government."

 

Write a comment

  • Required fields are marked with *.

If you have trouble reading the code, click on the code itself to generate a new random code.