‘Marriage flaw’ in benefit proposals

COUPLES with children will be discouraged from getting married or even living together if plans to strip higher-rate taxpayers of child benefit go ahead as currently designed, a leading think-tank warned.

The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), which was founded by and has close links to Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, said the proposal as drafted would be a disincentive to shared parenting.

The organisation said it backed the principle of the reform, under which families with one parent earning more than the 40 per cent tax threshold – about £42,735 – will lose child benefit from 2013.

However, it warned that there were “fundamental flaws” with the proposal, including the “cliff edge” effect of removing the allowance for single-earner households on £43,000 but retaining it for dual-income families potentially paid up to about £85,000.