Transferable Tax Allowances
Debate between Lord Jackson of Peterborough and Jeremy Lefroy(12 years ago)
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Mr Jackson
I am sure that the wise point made by my hon. Friend will be heard by the Minister, the Front-Bench spokesman for the Treasury.
In presenting these options, I hope that the Government do not opt to introduce the limited partially transferable allowance mooted in The Sunday Telegraph just published, which would be worth only £150, or £3 a week. If the limited funds available are such that we have to start with a limited transferable allowance proposal, it would be much better to focus a transferable allowance on those with young children, providing such families with a meaningful transferable allowance, rather than something minimal spread over all one-earner families.
Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)
My hon. Friend is making a powerful argument. I agree with everything he said. Does he agree that tax allowances should be given by introduction of a transferable marriage allowance, rather than by substantial tax allowance given to higher-rate taxpayers on their pension contributions, even if they are earning six-figure salaries?
Mr Jackson
Exactly. My hon. Friend makes a good, important point. This is an opportunity to make real our commitment to fairness and equity.
It is worth noting that the Prime Minister himself seemed a bit bothered by the nature of the partial allowance proposal. On 10 April 2010, he told Sky News:
“Of course, I want to go further”
than just a partially transferable allowance
“and I’m sure over a Parliament we would be able to go further, but this is a good first step that says commitment is important, marriage is important. I want us to be the most family friendly country in Europe and this is one step along that road.”
For the reasons I have elucidated in the past 20-odd minutes, the transferable allowance policy is a win-win policy for this Government that will help us make our fiscal arrangement less hostile to marriage, deal with some current unfairnesses in our tax system and help to make work pay. I hope that the Chancellor does the right thing next Wednesday and brings in a transferable tax allowance, which will be good for our constituents and for the country.