War Between the State and the Family

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In a new study, Patricia Morgan shows how tax and benefits policy has undermined family life in Britain and encouraged fraud and dishonesty. The study shows how the tax and benefits systems are particularly harsh on single-earner couples who have to earn over GBP50,000 before there is no loss from declaring their relationship to the authorities. This situation encourages couples not to marry and, if they are living together, to lie to the authorities about their family situation. In 2004/05, the government paid credits and benefits to 200,000 more lone parents than actually live in the UK -- fraud is widespread. The tax and benefits system encourages such fraud. In the most extreme case, a couple can gain nearly GBP10,000 a year by not declaring their relationship. Family life has been discouraged over 25 years by both Conservative and Labour governments. In the Thatcher years, the Conservative government gave lone parents special financial benefits and priority entitlement to council housing. In the Labour years, the state increasingly became the child-care provider. As Patricia Morgan comments, "Under Thatcher, the state became the bread-winner for lone parents; under Brown the s

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