UKIP leader Nigel Farage has spoken out about how ministers are treating traditional families as an “economic enemy”.
He said that a marriage tax break would “allow people to make informed and compassionate lifestyle choices about how they bring up their children at home”.
Traditional families
Mr Farage’s comments come after George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was accused of “patronising” stay-at-home mothers. He said they had made a “lifestyle choice” and should not receive childcare vouchers.
Mr Farage said the Government’s “nonsensical” policy was to target traditional families, where one adult works whilst the other stays at home and looks after the children.
In a comment piece for The Telegraph, he wrote:
“Nonsensical Government policy seems to suggest that the real economic enemy to the Coalition isn't the failure to cut red tape and empower small and medium sized businesses, but seems to be the concept of the traditional family, where one parent (of whatever gender - after all over a million households now have the woman as the main bread winner) goes out to work while the other brings up the children.”
Marriage tax
Mr Farage said that couples within a marriage should be able to swap tax allowances.
“Child benefit is available to those earning up to £60,000 a year, where those with two incomes can earn up to £100,000.
“It ditched the eminently sensible suggestion, and long term Ukip policy, that tax allowances should be transferable to those in a legally constituted relationship.
“As a result, it penalises those who are married with only one earner to the tune of up to and over £10,000 per year. If we want to help people, particularly those on lower incomes, we should set the basic tax allowance at the minimum wage, and allow it to be transferred.”
“That way we could allow people to make informed and compassionate lifestyle choices about how they bring up their children at home, without suffering a massive financial hit for having the temerity to choose.
“Nobody in dual income households would lose out, but we would be building a happier and stronger society if we did.”
Last month Mr Osborne committed to revealing the details of a transferable tax allowance saying “I am absolutely committed to introducing it, the Government is committed to introducing it and I think you can expect to see it in the Autumn Statement.”
A senior Government source has told The Telegraph that the most likely date for its introduction is April 2015, just before the General Election.
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