Sunday, April 11, 2010

Cameron's marriage tax plans

So the Tories have finally unveiled their much-trailed scheme to support marriage through tax incentives, and it wasn't worth the wait.

Even the fraction of married couples that could benefit would only get £150 a year - that's less than 50p a day. This is said to be 'sending a signal' that the government approves of marriage. Frankly, I don't think that couples contemplating matrimony take the views of the government into their considerations.

It looks like the Tories have dug themselves into a hole. They promised to restore the support for married couples through the tax system (reduced and abolished, incidentally, by John Major, Nigel Lawson, Kenneth Clarke and Norman Lamont.) Then they realised they couldn't afford it, so they've put up this minimal non-scheme.

You can't and shouldn't bribe people to get married. Marriage, in my 30+ years experience of it, is about love and companionship and mutual support, not about maximising disposable income. And I have my wife's permission to say so.