Tax cuts for families would revive Tory election hopes

INCOME tax cuts for parents would revive the Conservatives’ dire election prospects, according to a new poll.

The survey reveals a near universal demand for the Chancellor to cut taxes in his Budget next month, with seven in eight people calling for him to act.

Unlike other Western countries, the UK tax system has for nearly 40 years taxed the partners in a relationship as individuals rather than taxing household income – and so made no allowance for dependent children.

More than a third of parents (38 per cent) said they would be more likely to vote Tory if Jeremy Hunt unveils a “Budget for families” featuring significant tax cuts, compared with just 3 per cent who would be less likely. Among families with young children, the “more likely Conservative” cohort jumps to 47 per cent.

Overall, nearly one in five adults (18 per cent) say such a package would make them more likely to vote Conservative, three times more than the 6 per cent who would be less likely.

Labour supporters (by a factor of two and a half to one) and Lib Dems (three to one) would also consider switching to the Tories if tax cuts were targeted on families.

Appetite for family tax cuts is also surprisingly strong among the young (18 to 24-year-olds). By a margin of more than six to one (33 per cent to 5 per cent) young adults say they would be more inclined to vote Conservative if the Chancellor tilted in this direction.

The poll findings come after the Chancellor started playing down the prospect of big tax cuts in his March 6 Budget, warning the Cabinet on Wednesday that his scope for tax cuts is smaller than expected.

Tory MPs will regard his intervention as a belated attempt to manage expectations after weeks in which he and the Prime Minister have floated the promise of a Budget giveaway. The Tories are currently trailing Labour by around 20 points in the polls.

Overall, the survey found the public believes that the cost of living crisis has hit families with dependent children harder than any social group.

Three in five people (60 per cent) take this view as opposed to one in four (24 per cent) who disagree. Numbers in agreement rise to 75 per cent of those aged 18 to 24 and 84 per cent of those with dependent children.

The public also believes that the squeeze on household budgets is driving up levels of family breakdown, which they regard as a major social problem and associate with school failure, crime and unemployment.

A clear majority (51 per cent as opposed to 31 per cent) said levels of family breakdown would be reduced if families had more money in their pockets.

The poll of 2,000 adults by Whitestone Insight, commissioned by the Family Hubs Network, reveals widespread public dissatisfaction with the way the UK tax system fails to take account of the extra costs faced by parents in bringing up children.

Nearly two in three people asked agreed that these costs are being ignored (63 per cent), a proportion that rises to 72 per cent among Labour voters and also among young people aged 18 to 24 (compared with 57 per cent of those 55 years old and over). Among adults with children aged 18 and under, it rockets to 84 per cent.

The Family Hubs Network, co-founded by Lord Farmer, a former Conservative Party treasurer, and Dr Samantha Callan, David Cameron’s former family policy adviser, will submit the poll findings to the Chancellor.

Lord Farmer said: “The unfairness of our individualised taxation system, interacting with massive pressures on living costs, is driving many families beyond breaking point. We are not arguing for new cash benefits but for families simply to be able to keep more of their hard-earned cash. The Government must reform how families are taxed.”

‘The unfairness of our taxation system is driving many families beyond breaking point’