From: "Andy Pandy" 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british uk.politics.misc uk.finance uk.gov.social-security
Subject: Re: The Great Tax Credit Rip-Off
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 16:06:13 +0100


"Fred"  wrote in message
news:3f684e24$0$10991$fa0fcedb@lovejoy.zen.co.uk...
> Yes I was 10% out :-(  As you might have gathered I was just trying to make
> the point.

Yes, as you might have gathered I was just being a pedantic sod.

> There is no reason why couples could not be assessed as such for PAYE and
> tax credit purposes.  Couples living together (married and unmarried) are
> already treated differently from single people and I can give examples such
> as IR35 and connected companies for corporation tax purposes.  I am sure
> there are more.

Assessing people for tax individually maximises revenue for the government.
Assessing people for tax credits and benefits as a couple minimises the amount
the government pays out. To change this would require big tax rises somewhere,
and the government haven't got the balls. At least not until families with a
single earner start actually realising how much they are getting screwed for.

--
Andy