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Labour criticises Osborne’s “Mummy Tax” small print as maternity pay is cut

December 5, 2012 9:55 pm

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There’s always something hidden away in Osborne’s announcements. Today’s Autumn Statement seems to have had several already, but Labour has identified a cut to maternity pay – or “The Mummy Tax’ – as Osborne’s small print this time. Catherine McKinnell MP, Labour’s shadow Treasury minister, said this evening:

“In the Budget the small print was the granny tax and in the autumn statement the hidden detail was George Osborne’s mummy tax, as maternity pay is cut in real terms. The government claims they are targeting the work-shy and benefit scroungers, but it’s just not true. They are hitting millions of working families, and mums taking time out from work to look after their new born baby. And all this is happening on the same day that millionaires get an average tax cut of over £100,000. It’s completely unfair.”

Will #mummytax become the new #grannytax ?

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  • http://www.biologymad.com/ HD2

    Will #mummytax become the new #grannytax ?
    No.

    He could, and should, have scrapped Child Benefit altogether for all not on Benefits. It was designed to produce the young men for WW3 to be fought in the early/mid 1960′s but that never happened (thank Goodness!) so the justification for it ended over 50 years ago.

    If you add up all the money squandered on this pointless bribe (of parents with their own children’s money) since 1946, it adds up to very close to the total National Debt – £1 trillion.

    Funny that!

  • http://twitter.com/KulganofCrydee Kulgan of Crydee

    So maternity pay is going up 1%. There you have it.

    • jaime taurosangastre candelas

      There is also the much-repeated, but wrong, assertion that millionaires are getting an average tax cut of £100,000. Do Shadow Treasury Ministers have to have even a Key Stage 2 Pass in basic arithmetic, or in the English language as to what “average” means? (And before anyone points to George Osborne, he probably does not have one either)

      Labour will find it a hard struggle to persuade the voters of the Party’s economic credibility with this level of nonsense.

      • John Ruddy

        Never heard it called an “average” tax cut. Its always been said that “millionaires are getting a tax cut of £100,000″… which is of course absolutely true.

        Please link to a statement calling it an average tax cut.

        • Hugh

          Absolutely true if “millionaire” means someone with an annual income of £1 million, which it is doesn’t. And if “tax cut” means millionaires being worse off overall as a result of all the tax changes – in which case, far from hitting lower earners yesterday, Osborne gave them a tax cut by raising the personal allowance.

          So, basically, no, not true.

        • Hugh

          If you had scrolled up the page it would have saved some googling: ‘McKinnell MP, Labour’s shadow Treasury minister, said this evening… all this is happening on the same day that millionaires get an average tax cut of over £100,000″

        • PeterBarnard

          John R (and others),
          The origin of this (average £107,000 income tax reduction) appears to be the data in Table 2.5 of HMRC document “Income Tax Liabilities Statistics, 2009-10 to 2012-13,” released on 27 April, 2012.
          This shows that for 2012-13, 6,000 people reported incomes between £1m and £2m (aggregate of £8,460 million), and 2,000 reported incomes greater than £2m (aggregate £9,940 million).
          Average per capita income for the first group = £1.41 million, with £1.26 million currently liable to the additional tax rate ; a 45% tax rate will reduce the average per capita tax paid by £63,000.
          Similarly, for the second group, a 45% tax rate will reduce the average per capita tax paid by £241,000.
          So : [(6,000 x £63,000) + (2,000 x £241,000)] divided by 8,000 = £107,500 tax reduction per capita.

        • PeterBarnard

          John R (and others),
          The origin of this (average £107,000 income tax reduction) appears to be the data in Table 2.5 of HMRC document “Income Tax Liabilities Statistics, 2009-10 to 2012-13,” released on 27 April, 2012.
          This shows that for 2012-13, 6,000 people reported incomes between £1m and £2m (aggregate of £8,460 million), and 2,000 reported incomes greater than £2m (aggregate £9,940 million).
          Average per capita income for the first group = £1.41 million, with £1.26 million currently liable to the additional tax rate ; a 45% tax rate will reduce the average per capita tax paid by £63,000.
          Similarly, for the second group, a 45% tax rate will reduce the average per capita tax paid by £241,000.
          So : [(6,000 x £63,000) + (2,000 x £241,000)] divided by 8,000 = £107,500 tax reduction per capita.

      • Hugh

        It’s the average income tax cut for those who earn £1 million income (£107,000), and they’ve – probably – got that right. Of course, that’s not what “millionaires” means, but that’s more of a literacy issue than one of arithmetic.

  • http://twitter.com/KulganofCrydee Kulgan of Crydee

    So maternity pay is going up 1%. There you have it.

  • http://twitter.com/KulganofCrydee Kulgan of Crydee

    So maternity pay is going up 1%. There you have it.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Daniel-Smith/516168738 Daniel Smith

    Work shy is a joke really – if I could get a job I would be well pleased but the only industry in Leicester is recruitment and not working per se – if we could get rid of the recruitment industry and all the associated middle men, unemployment would drop by about a third overnight.

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