Madam, – Tim Callan and Brian Nolan (Opinion, October 27th) argue that taxing child benefits is fairest for low income families.
However, they seem to ignore the impact of their proposal on people’s lives. Child benefit is paid to mothers. It was one of the most important outcomes of the women’s movement in Ireland. Further, increases in child benefit have helped to address the needs of mothers for an independent income and the State’s obligation to help parents in general with the high costs of children.
Increasingly, mothers themselves as employees contribute to the tax revenues which pays them child benefit.
Existing joint/family taxation policies are already problematic. Many married women who are in the labour market are allocated minimal tax allowances by the Revenue with the bulk of them given to their husbands. They consequently pay more taxes and get lower net incomes. From this they then pay their childcare costs. Are Mr Callan and Mr Nolan now suggesting that the Revenue add on their child benefit as income and that they then pay tax on that too? Or will it be considered as an income to the husband and deducted from his tax bill?
The analysis done by Mr Callan and Mr Nolan shows that a taxed system would be proportionately fairer between different income families than a simple overall reduction in benefit, while achieving the same savings to the exchequer.
Alternatively child benefit should be left as it is – a due recognition of the expense and demands of children than any responsible child-friendly state must and should provide. It took a long time and several social partnership deals to get our current level of child benefit in place while other demands such as state-sponsored creches and child care were put on the long finger.
An overall increase in taxation for the wealthier, the elimination of special taxation allowances for elite groups, an increase in corporation taxes (these companies reap the benefits of our child rearing) would seem a fairer way of protecting existing child benefits. Robbing little Susan’s mammy to give slightly more to little Paul’s is not the answer . . . they are all our children. – Yours, etc,