Because...
...that's how
social insurance works: you pay your taxes and then get benefits when you need them. Including child
benefit when you have children.
...once they've taken child benefit from 'rich people' they'll want yours.
...giving 'rich'
people money back through pension and property tax relief schemes is
surely just the same as giving them child benefit. So why is the focus
always on child benefit? Are properties and pensions more important
than our children? Surely all the tax avoidance schemes should be
eliminated first?
...if you've a Celtic Tiger-sized mortgage, child benefit may be stopping your kids from going hungry.
...you may have a good income now, but what happens if you lose your job or get sick?
...some high wage-earners still don't give enough money to their stay-at-home partner. Child benefit makes up the difference.
...contract workers with children who lose their jobs may be entitled to nothing from the State. Except child benefit.
...it
can take weeks or even months for the first social welfare cheque to
arrive when your circumstances change for the worse. In the meantime
what income does your family have? Child benefit.
...lone parents need it. Their maintenance cheque - if they get one - may be unreliable.
...the self-employed need it. Child benefit is the only
dependable income in the household. When work is scarce, it may be the
only income.
...most parents I know spend their child benefit on their children.
...child benefit is for children.
I wrote this because I am so sick of hearing the usual media line about rich families not needing their child benefit....with the implication that no-one should get it except the 'deserving' poor who should be thoroughly and regularly means-tested to make absolutely sure that their children are deprived enough to need it.
I wrote this because I am so sick of hearing the usual media line about rich families not needing their child benefit....with the implication that no-one should get it except the 'deserving' poor who should be thoroughly and regularly means-tested to make absolutely sure that their children are deprived enough to need it.
This line is almost never
challenged now. So I just wanted to give a different viewpoint.
Thanks to the recession, child benefit now provides the ultimate safety net for families. It may not be the most efficient way to support families, but it is the only one available right now. Yet the new Irish Government is likely to target child benefit once again. And they may justify this by saying that the rich don't need it, and they may promise to "protect the most vulnerable", just like the Government they replaced. Then they will cut it. I hope I'm wrong.
Thanks to the recession, child benefit now provides the ultimate safety net for families. It may not be the most efficient way to support families, but it is the only one available right now. Yet the new Irish Government is likely to target child benefit once again. And they may justify this by saying that the rich don't need it, and they may promise to "protect the most vulnerable", just like the Government they replaced. Then they will cut it. I hope I'm wrong.
Note: I am a member of PACUB,
the Irish Group campaigning against further cuts to child benefit, and
if you can, please 'like' our new page. And no, this is not a sponsored
post!
