The Boy on Top
I suspect that there's a lot of black economy work that, if it were tax-deductable, would be declared.
This government is not prejudiced against families, however - it's just people in general it sees as cattle waiting to be financially milked. Remember how they took away the tax allowance for private healthcare?
I would actually argue that point, though maybe not putting it as harshly as prejudice. This gov't has definately used taxation and benefits to perform social engineering. I think the strong support for single parents, though right intentioned, has had an adverse effect. To pay for it they've removed any shred of tax benefit to two parent married families, argueably even for those below poverty parameters. I really really disagree with many of the current social policies. Again, well intentioned, but poorly designed with little regard for unintended consequence.
Also, to your point, they see middle class married couples as an easy uncomplaining tax target. Many tax benefits have been removed, and new burdens added. TB
In the US (land of bible-thumpers, remember), there's a marriage tax penalty. If you live together, you file taxes separately. If you're married, you can file jointly or separately, but the percentages for deductions don't work out as well as if you lived in sin.
Crazy.
Its the same in the UK. It is actually financially advantageous for those on lower income to be unmarried with one parent non working, than have a married couple both working. Madness. TB
All I can say is that I am in complete agreement with you.
Thank you. What's the tax situation like in France? Does a married or single state offer any tax benefit? TB
Yes - there are tax rebates. If the parents divorce, one of the parents (usually the one with the higher income) gets the rebate.
To keep things fair, the other parent gets all the child benefit from the State.
Commenting by HaloScan
