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How the tax system punishes marriage Daily Mail, March 18, 2007 Married couples with children are the worst off under Labour's tax and benefits system, official figures showed yesterday. A two-parent family with two children pay, on average, more than £11,000 a year in income tax and national insurance - the highest direct taxation of any type of household. They also pay more in VAT and other indirect taxes. But a typical single mother more than doubles her income thanks to the generosity of state benefits and tax credits. Ministers admit that 100,000 children dropped below the poverty line last year - all of whom live in two-parent rather than single-parent families. The latest breakdown, published by the Government's Office for National Statistics, showed that in the last financial year a typical single mother earned less than £10,000. By the time she had collected all due tax credits and benefits, her income was £21,208. An average family with two parents and two children had a £45,548 income, but more than £17,500 was taken in taxes. After counting in 'benefits in kind' including NHS care and schooling, the two-parent, two-children family had paid more taxes than the value they received from the state. Their final income was under £41,000. Their direct taxation bill was £11,015 - higher than for any other type of household. The latest figures follow studies that had shown the system favours single-parent families, to the point where a couple now have to earn more than £50,000 before it is worst more to stay together than to part. Jill Kirby, of the Centre for Policy Studies think tank, said: "It is very clear that it is not in the interest of a woman who is pregnant to stay with her partner. It is also very demoralising for couples who see all their income taken in taxation."
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