After criticising Iain Duncan Smith's daft proposal of adding 7p to a pint of beer yesterday, today I would like to congratulate him on getting one of his policy proposals right. David Cameron's wish to "Mend Society" is something not to be sniffed at and IDS's proposal of giving married couples a £20 tax break can only help our declining society. It is a fact that a larger proportion of our juvenile delinquents, under achievers, drug users and criminals come from single parent homes. The statistics are not a hard and fast, many people from single parent families turn out alright, but they are disadvantaged when compared to those from two parent families.
Iain has also proposed an increase in benefits of £32 for married couples to bring them into line with single parents. It is about time, A single parent with 2 children working 16 hours a week receives £487 per week thanks to tax credit payments. Unbelievably a two-parent family, with one of them working, also with 2 children is required to work 116 hours to get the same income. This situation is ridiculous and no matter what Labour may say, it can only have a negative effect on the need to have stable family units.
Well done Iain, let's hope David Cameron takes this policy on board and that the Conservatives get into power. Strong family units with one of the parents able to work without being disadvantaged, should give the next generation of kids a better future than the one they face at present. I would hope that this proposal also extends to same sex marriages now that civil partnerships are becoming more popular.
We cannot continue to throw money at single parents, it has been tried, and it does not work.
2 comments:
The idea of introducing marriage tax-breaks is good in principle, as it reinforces, I believe, the importance of marriage as an institution. Marriage is recognized both by the state in legal terms, and by society. At the present moment there is no clear-demarcation between co-habiting couples and those who are married. Marriage, of course, in a traditional sense, is the bedrock of both family and community building.
In essence however, any type of tax relief would be highly popular amongst those people who could be entitled to claim. With recent interest-rate hikes reducing people's disposable incomes any tax-relief would greatly help to reduce the burden on mortgage repayments.
An analogy would be comparing marriage to employment:
Should an employee who will not sign a contract of employment, not subject themselves to the company rules, not commit to a set time period, enjoy the benefits of an employer given to those who DO sign up for a set time, to terms and conditions and company rules?
Of course not! Those committed are rewarded for their commitment.
Make it so!
I could not agree more Rob. I like the contract analogy.
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