[interestrateripoff]

http://www.telegraph...-of-pounds.html

Quote

Families could be entitled to claim up to £2,000 per child every year from their tax bills to cover the cost of childminders and nurseries as part of a new government scheme to help families.

The childcare plans form the centrepiece of new proposals set out in the Coalition’s mid-term review, which is being unveiled today by Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister at a rare joint press conference in Downing Street.

Other new measures will include new financial support to help first time buyers get on the housing ladder by making mortgages more affordable to young people.

The Government will also announce a new flat rate £140 a week state pension, funded by increases in the state retirement age, and new plans for more new road tolls to cover the cost of new investment in transport infrastructure.

In the age of austerity more freebies.

[easy2012]

interestrateripoff, on 07 January 2013 - 09:53 AM, said:

http://www.telegraph...-of-pounds.html

claim up to £2,000 per child every year from their tax bills to

In the age of austerity more freebies.

Just tax refund ?

This post has been edited by easy2012: 07 January 2013 - 10:17 AM

[mikthe20]

Isn't there already a child care voucher scheme which can cut costs dramatically? Why is there never any mention of that in these stories?

Anyway, even more subsidies to employers, private nurseries, and the housing industry to keep both people in a couple working full time and paying massive mortgages.

[BNS]

Depends.

If it is just handed to them.... bad.

If they actually still have to go out there and work to benefit from such a tax allowance increase then less bad.

Of course this is just a pre-election bribe, doncha know the election is only 18 months away now.

[Gone baby gone]

mikthe20, on 07 January 2013 - 10:19 AM, said:

Isn't there already a child care voucher scheme which can cut costs dramatically? Why is there never any mention of that in these stories?

It's not that generous. The child care voucher scheme allows either employers to "gift" vouchers to employees - which comes off taxed income for the employer, and is tax free (up to a point) for the employee, or they can allow the employee to "buy" vouchers using their salary at a slight discount with a very small tax saving.

My wife works part-time as a Teacher (therefore employed by the local council) and she has to buy the vouchers - we are probably about £10 a month better off because of this.

I am self employed and gift myself some vouchers which means we are about £160 a month better off.

So the current system depends on how "nice" your employer is to you, and for once the public sector isn't as "nice" as the private sector to it's employees.

[Gone baby gone]

BNS, on 07 January 2013 - 10:20 AM, said:

Of course this is just a pre-election bribe, doncha know the election is only 18 months away now.

Indeed, and they've just shat on a lot of families with working parents who are "natural" Tory voters. So this is probably a good way to try and get them on side. I reckon there were no plans for this, until about a week ago when opinion polls probably made someone in Conservative Central Office get a little nervous...

[Snugglybear]

mikthe20, on 07 January 2013 - 10:19 AM, said:

Isn't there already a child care voucher scheme which can cut costs dramatically? Why is there never any mention of that in these stories?

Anyway, even more subsidies to employers, private nurseries, and the housing industry to keep both people in a couple working full time and paying massive mortgages.

Child care vouchers are only offered by employers, and not very many of them. The only thing offered by the Government is 15 hours of free early education each week for 38 weeks of the year for 3 and 4 year-olds. 15 hours at fixed times isn't much help if you want to work, unless you can find a setting that takes that 15 hours off your bill, and even then you have to pay for the rest.

I suspect what is more important to the government than the subsidisies that working mothers will be paying some tax on what they earn, rather than not paying any tax if they stay at home.

[Bloo Loo]

interestrateripoff, on 07 January 2013 - 09:53 AM, said:

http://www.telegraph...-of-pounds.html



In the age of austerity more freebies.

work work work.

Its UK mans and womans curse.

When I was in my 30s, I was able, with a sales job, buy a four bedroom house with a mortgage of 3 times my salary and commission, run a car for the wife and support two children into the world. My wife was not working.

Today, to do the exact same thing, Id need, (doing the same work) a pay rise, then a 7 times liar loan, a bangor for the wife and she'd have to work too....

[Anna_1980]

i cannot understand why they cannot give a tax free allowance for children, that parents can allocate to themselves
and for those not working/earning enough to benefit to provide "tax credit" - although I'm not keen on the idea of it as there is an abundance of single mothers who see their kids as the way not to work

Disclaimer: There is a lot of single mothers, who would like to go back to work and cannot due to the childcare costs

[SarahBell]

Anna_1980, on 07 January 2013 - 10:45 AM, said:

i cannot understand why they cannot give a tax free allowance for children, that parents can allocate to themselves
and for those not working/earning enough to benefit to provide "tax credit" - although I'm not keen on the idea of it as there is an abundance of single mothers who see their kids as the way not to work

Disclaimer: There is a lot of single mothers, who would like to go back to work and cannot due to the childcare costs

£1055.6 for first child
£696.8 per extra child?

[Bloo Loo]

Anna_1980, on 07 January 2013 - 10:45 AM, said:

i cannot understand why they cannot give a tax free allowance for children, that parents can allocate to themselves
and for those not working/earning enough to benefit to provide "tax credit" - although I'm not keen on the idea of it as there is an abundance of single mothers who see their kids as the way not to work

Disclaimer: There is a lot of single mothers, who would like to go back to work and cannot due to the childcare costs

child care costs.....well, they are going to be high, because, the carers need to meet their own living costs out of their wages.

So, thats two people at least dependent on someone else to create some wealth to pay for them...the lady doing the work, and the carer helping her get there.

And if the lady finds work in the Local Authority, she and the carer remain a drain on the common wealth.

[winkie]

Anna_1980, on 07 January 2013 - 10:45 AM, said:

i cannot understand why they cannot give a tax free allowance for children, that parents can allocate to themselves
and for those not working/earning enough to benefit to provide "tax credit" - although I'm not keen on the idea of it as there is an abundance of single mothers who see their kids as the way not to work

Disclaimer: There is a lot of single mothers, who would like to go back to work and cannot due to the childcare costs

Few years ago as a working single mum with a mortgage to pay, I went to the authorities to see if there was any help given towards childminding costs..... was told the only thing to do was to give up work stay at home and claim benefits to live on, and benefits to pay the mortgage interest....thankfully I didn't take their advise and found someone in the community that I trusted to help.....then they said they should get a CRB check and I shouldn't be using unauthorised childminders.....you couldn't make it up.

[Gone to Ireland.]

Bloo Loo, on 07 January 2013 - 10:34 AM, said:

work work work.

Its UK mans and womans curse.

When I was in my 30s, I was able, with a sales job, buy a four bedroom house with a mortgage of 3 times my salary and commission, run a car for the wife and support two children into the world. My wife was not working.

Today, to do the exact same thing, Id need, (doing the same work) a pay rise, then a 7 times liar loan, a bangor for the wife and she'd have to work too....

Alternatively you could move to another country where the house prices are less.

[Bloo Loo]

Gone to Ireland., on 07 January 2013 - 10:57 AM, said:

Alternatively you could move to another country where the house prices are less.

But why would I have to?....something went wrong in the last 20 years.....Im guessing it was banking

[Gone to Ireland.]

When we start a family the other half will not need to work and we will be able to get by just fine. In fact if we wished we could move to a cheaper area / smaller house and go on regular holidays eat out etc..

The only reason the government want high houses and two workers is so they and the bankers can skim a percentage for themselves. In a lot of cases it would make more sense for the mother to stay at home and look after the house and children. Much of the time it is a zero sum game.