Miriam Cates MP commented: “Our tax system actively discourages people from having children, it makes it difficult for them to look after their children, and it does nothing to support stable couple relationships. In the UK, unlike in many comparable Western nations, our unit of taxation is the individual and not the household. So if you are a single person with no dependents earning £40 000 per year you pay the same amount of tax as a parent earning £40 000 supporting a partner and three children, even though your outgoings are significantly lower.”
She added that a commission on family taxation considers scrapping the two child cap on Universal Credit and Working Tax Credits, as well as raising the High Income Child Benefit Tax Charge (HICBC) threshold, at which point they start to lose their Child Benefit.
Bank of England’s interest rates update – March 23
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee will next announce any changes they decide to make to the Base Rate on March 23.
The Bank Rate is currently at four percent, following 10 consecutive increases.
It’s not known what the next decision will be, but Laith Khalaf, head of investment analysis at AJ Bell, pointed out that markets are expecting interest rates to peak at 4.5 percent in 2023. Speaking last month, he added that it “looks a reasonable estimate as things stand at the moment”.
