Consider the following scenario: you are a single person, earning an annual wage (pre-tax) of £20,000. Now, according to some snazzy software produced by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)1, taking council tax into account (£14 per week in this case), you would be richer than 69% of the population. Note, however, that this does not take other living costs into account, so the single person’s income is likely to be affected by these factors as well.

However, these same factors also affect those with children and if we apply the same process to a couple with two children aged 13 or under with the same annual income, then we see that they are better off than just 21% of the population! Quite a stark difference.

In view of such figures, some may point out that families on such an income are eligible for tax credits to help supplement their income. While this may be true, there are at least two problems here. The first is that even with tax credits (or the new Universal Credit) a family’s income is still likely to be significantly less than those without family responsibilities.

Secondly, there is the problem of high Marginal Deduction Rates (MDRs) and work incentives. CARE’s research into this area suggests that with the introduction of the Universal Credit, the MDRs (the reduction in income resulting from income tax, national insurance contributions and loss of tax credits and other means-tested benefits as a result of an increase in gross income) for around 2 million families would be very high, up to 76% in some cases. This then significantly affects their incentive to work, for if someone was facing an MDR of 76%, they would only keep twenty four pence out of every additional pound they earned after tax, national insurance contributions and changes to tax credit and benefit entitlements were taken into account.

In concluding, I want to make it clear that this (and any other article I write) is not an advocation of marriage over singleness, indeed as Paul himself says in 1 Corinthians, there are certainly virtues to being single and singleness is as much a gift from God as marriage. Nor is this article attempting to suggest that high earning couples should pay less tax than single people who struggle to make ends meet; what I have sought to do here is argue for a fairer income tax system, where those whose wage has to stretch further are properly and fairly treated. A key way that this can be achieved is, as I stated in the introduction, through the recognition of both wage and family responsibility in our income tax system.

1. IFS: www.ifs.org.uk/wheredoyoufitin