Tory proposals for tax breaks on marriage will do nothing to tackle poverty

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09/07/07 In advance of the publication of the Conservative's proposals on 'social justice', single parent charity One Parent Families|Gingerbread warned that the widely trailed promotion of tax breaks for marriage would do nothing to tackle child poverty.

Chief Executive Chris Pond said:

"We're looking forward to seeing the detail of the Tory proposals but we would be extremely sceptical about any measures that give tax advantages to marriage as a means to tackle child poverty."

"There is no bias in favour of single parents over couples in the tax and benefits system and no evidence that it encourages people to split up. Unfortunately, attempts to encourage people to stay together through the tax system have a history of failure; tax allowances for married people existed throughout the 1970s and 80s which saw a massive expansion in divorce rates. It was as a result of this failure that Conservative and subsequently Labour governments began the phasing out of married couples' tax advantages, which Iain Duncan Smith now proposes to reintroduce. "

"Those countries which have low child poverty rates and high child well- being don't base their policies on family structure but on family need. Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark, occupying the four top places in Unicef's recent assessment of the material well-being of children, are four of the six countries with the highest number of children brought up by a lone parent."

"Ian Duncan Smith's report sets out to tackle the high rates of poverty that still exist in the UK and this is to be applauded. But a back to basics approach to family structure will do nothing to address the real problems facing both lone and couple parents."

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