Tories scrapping child benefit for people who earn over £44,000

[mike84]

Plenty of threads about child benefit in the general chat section of the forum.

[bigbladerob]

there has to be a cut off point though?

 

I'd like to think if we earned that money we wouldnt need, or be upset, if we didnt get the benefits that could go and help others.

 

i dont have kids so it might be easy for me to say, but I think this is one of the less painful cuts ahead

[alchresearch]

And that's why it will be reviewed before it becomes policy.

 

But of course that doesn't sell papers or outrage the public.

[mossdog]

really?

 

ive got 4 kids, earn over £44000, in two years child benefit will stop and so will tax credits, as you cant have one without the other. without tax credits ill have to pay full child care costs. so today will cost me £8000 ish. that fair?

Two kids is enough for anyone.........problem solved!If you must have four,don,t expect the state to carry on picking up the tab for your desires!(or mistakes).

[Vague_Boy]

Don’t be fooled its just a taster of what’s to come, start of with cuts that few can complain about but those feeling smug at the moment will soon be effected.

 

I don't claim any benefits, how will I be affected?

 

If you don't want cuts, please explain how these benefits are to be funded, given that we are overspending our national budget by £160 billion a year.

[Greybeard]

It's a systems-and-resources issue.

 

 

I suspect it's just as much a publicity stunt. The mantra is 'fairness' and Osborne is trying to show that he's being fair to the poorer sections of society by hitting the wealthiest, - his own core voters in fact. There is nothing equitable about the way it will affect many in the targeted group.

[staninoodle]

It would have saved a lot of uproar,had child benefit been abolished alltogether,and instead,that money channeled into child tax credits.

We then wouldnt be faced with people on 44k trying to tell us how poor they all are:hihi:

[espadrille]

Well is all relative isnt it?

Those who earn will of course have greater outgoings. they will probably have huge mortgages.Of course if you earn it then more opportunities open up to you and look at some of the Direct debits in a household of those earning over 45 k and it is hard to keep track of them all!

 

What it will mean though is scrapping this for those families may be a little inconvenient, but wont be life changing. It wil be probably easier to deal with than those who earn 20k and depend on this amount of money each month.

£80 child benefit pays for my daughter to buy any clothes that she needs and toiletries, bus fares etc.It wouldnt be the end of the world not getting it but every little helps.

[swordfish1]

really?

 

ive got 4 kids, earn over £44000, in two years child benefit will stop and so will tax credits, as you cant have one without the other. without tax credits ill have to pay full child care costs. so today will cost me £8000 ish. that fair?

 

My heart bleeds. So now you're going to have to pay more and not expect handouts from the state that you've been getting even though you earn over £44,000?

Sounds fair to me...the only thing that doesn't seem fair is the fact that a couple on £43,000 each will still get it.

[crookesey]

In some cases (where a persons income is just above the £44,000 threshold), the best option could be to increase pension contributions (untaxed so if you increase pension contributions by £1000, you're only reducing take home pay by £600), to drop you below the £44,000 limit, then claim child benefit.

 

The net effect is you are paying more into a pension, and still receiving the child benefit payments.

 

It is lunacy though that a family earning £87,000 between them (£43,500 each) will receive child benefit, but a family earning £44,500 on their own won't.

 

Maybe this will all change in 2013, just like the labour 10% tax fiasco, where no-one seemed to consider the implications until after it was put into practice.

 

When did common sense have anything to do with politics?

 

Why the chancellor didn't abolish tax relief on personal contributions to public sector final salary pension schemes, god only knows.