Tax breaks for married couples

Responding to comments made by the Deputy Prime Minister that the idea of a married tax break is wrong and would not work, chief executive of Gingerbread Fiona Weir said:

“The proposal to introduce a tax break for marriage is completely out of step with modern British attitudes (1) – and would be a shockingly unfair way to spend government funds when so many families are experiencing serious financial hardship.

“One in four families with children is headed by a single parent, and they consistently tell us that marriage tax proposals make them feel like second class citizens. These are ordinary mums or dads who provide stable home environments for their families, and the government should be supporting not stigmatising them.”

Notes to Editors:

(1) The latest British Social Attitudes survey (Dec 2011) showed that less than half (42%) of the population believe that people should get married if they want children; a marked decline down from 54% who believed this in 2000

The latest evidence suggests that there is not a causal link between marriage per se and relationship stability [IFS (2011) Cohabitation, marriage, relationship stability and child outcomes: an update], concluding that “the gaps in cognitive and socio-emotional development between children born to married parents and those born to cohabiting parents mainly or entirely reflect the fact that different types of people choose to get married (the selection effect), rather than that marriage has an effect on relationship stability or child development.” http://www.ifs.org.uk/comms/comm120.pdf