Transferable Tax Allowances

Fiona Bruce Excerpts

Wednesday 28th November 2012 Westminster Hall

[Fiona Bruce (Congleton) (Con)]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Peterborough (Mr Jackson) not only for delivering an excellent speech, but for his dogged pursuance of the issue during this Parliament.

Supporting marriage in the tax system, certainly where children are involved, is a social justice issue. It is about supporting children to flourish, and helping them to get the best start in life and fulfil their potential. The Government support children, especially disadvantaged children, in many ways—providing nursery places, the pupil premium, school dinners and university funding—so why do they not support children in one of the best ways we can, by supporting a stable, secure environment in which they can grow up? We focus so much on ensuring that children have the best education within the school day, but a crucial factor in enabling them to take advantage of that education is if, at the end of the school day, they can go home not to a chaotic environment but to a stable and secure one, not least so as to do their home work, rest and prepare for the next school day.

My hon. Friend cited some excellent statistics from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Centre for Social Justice on the better development outcomes of children from stable families. I do not want to repeat those, but I will mention others. The Centre for Social Justice, to which I pay tribute for its work, has informed me that children in families with transitional relationships are eight times more likely to be on a child protection register, and 50 times more likely to die of a deliberate injury in the home. There is no doubt that children living in families with transitional—indeed, sometimes chaotic relationships—suffer acutely; the converse is also true.

As the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has said, the effects of children suffering behavioural problems spill out to the rest of society. Relationship breakdown for children means that they suffer grief—often far into adulthood—and so fail to fulfil their aspirations. Therefore, not only for children during childhood but for wider society, we should support marriage in the tax system, which is about sending out a message that it is good for children, but it is also good for society, and about saying that we value the commitment, care and self-sacrifice of parents. Children are a blessing, but they are also a responsibility—they involve hard work—and many parents, when one is a non-earner, give up their earning capacity to help bring up the next generation in a positive way, from which we will all benefit as the years go by.

Marriage is a more secure environment, which is why we should support those who are married and not only those who cohabit. The Department for Work and Pensions recently announced that only 55% of children still live with both parents by the age of 15, but 97% of those families are headed by married couples. Another advantage is that a married couple’s tax allowance would effectively target the poorest with that benefit. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said that such an allowance would have a disproportionately positive effect on those in the lower half of the income distribution, because 70% of the benefit would go to them. We all support an increase in the personal allowance. I would like that to be increased further, but an increase to £10,000 will benefit even those in the highest tax brackets. A married tax allowance is simply more targeted and therefore more effective for benefiting children in the poorest and least advantaged homes.

I therefore join my hon. Friend in calling for the Chancellor to bring in, as early as possible, a transferable tax allowance for married couples: yes, because it was in our manifesto; yes, because it was a coalition agreement commitment; yes, because it will recognise marriage in the tax system and, in so doing, bring us more closely into line with other OECD countries; yes, because it will rebalance the tax burden on married couples compared with single people; yes, because it will send out a signal from Government that they value marriage, and recognise and appreciate the contribution that married couples make to wider society—with elderly relatives or voluntary work—as so many non-earner married people do; yes, because the greatest benefit will accrue to the least well-off; yes, because it is worth making such an investment that will reap its benefits and rewards for society not only in the next few years and while today’s children are growing up, but potentially for generations to come as those children grow up to be responsible, positively contributing citizens; yes, because it will contribute to social mobility, helping children from the poorest households to achieve a better outcome in life and to achieve their aspirations; and yes, as I said at the outset, because it is a matter of social justice. It is simply the right thing to do.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Burrowes]

I agree, and it is very important that we recognise the clear data that make that point. The Centre for Social Justice has said that the difference in family breakdown risk between married and cohabiting couples is such that even the poorest 20% of married couples are more stable than all but the richest 20% of cohabiting couples. It is very important to recognise that this issue is one of social justice.

We recognise that most of the serious social problems that face us have their roots in the breakdown of the family. It is important for Conservatives to recognise and to make the point clearly that we support marriage. Far from making the case for the 1950s model of supporting marriage that I referred to earlier, we want a thoroughly modern and progressive measure that is underpinned by social justice.

As my hon. Friends have said, we are out of step with the majority of other developed countries. Most of the individuals living in OECD countries who are in a system that does not recognise spousal obligations are in either the United Kingdom or Mexico—and that cannot be right. Among highly developed economies, the UK is on its own in operating a tax system that ignores spousal obligations.

As my hon. Friends and I have said, this is an issue of social justice. The Institute for Fiscal Studies and others have made it very clear that, if a transferable allowance were implemented, 70% of the benefit accrued would go to those who are currently in the lower half of the income distribution level. The introduction of a transferable allowance would also reduce the number of children living in households below 60% of the median income, and that is where we want to be.

It is important that we properly urge the Chancellor—my hon. Friends and I have clearly done that this morning—to make good our collective promise and introduce a transferable allowance for married couples with young children. That is where the focus is. We recognise that it is not adequate simply—in a minimalist way—to have a partial transferable allowance that would be worth—what?—£150 a year, or £3 a week. That would also open us up to some criticism. We need to focus on and target married couples with young children.

[Fiona Bruce]

Perhaps I could mention that some polling from the Centre for Social Justice has found that more than 80% of adults agree that more should be done to help parents who wish to stay at home to bring up their children in the early years. Does my hon. Friend agree that support for child care does not always mean that child care needs to be outsourced, and that some of the best support can be to help parents to stay at home to bring up their own children?

[Mr Burrowes]

I heartily agree with my hon. Friend. We need to look in the round at the benefits of child care—the social and economic benefits. Many of us know the value of well-supported care at home, which we sometimes do not properly quantify. That is a message that we need to amplify.

In conclusion, we are on the side of some of the poorest families in Britain, and we can help them by fulfilling the promise in our manifesto and in our coalition agreement. An unimplemented promise would not be a promise kept. We need to implement our promise properly and fully in the Budget of 2013.