Hands off the child benefit!

The Commission on Taxation has in its report this week, recommended that child benefit be taxed. Other European countries, concerned about their falling birthrates, have introduced incentives to encourage people to have children. In Ireland, while we have a healthy birthrate, parents are getting no thanks for the commitment they're making to the future. Let's be blunt here: today's toddlers will be paying our pensions. It's in our interests to make sure they enter adulthood prepared to carry that burden. It'll be a sad day if the toddlers of today end up as ill-educated, unhealthy, or disillusioned adults, because their parents just couldn't afford to give them the sort of opportunities and care that they need, and deserve - and that we need them to have. But it appears now that what the Government is taking away with one hand - and taking away even more with the other. Just as the Government is set to reintroduce third level education fees, they're likely to tax the children's allowance. This comes after a hike in the cost of school transport, and the almost-end to the School Books Scheme. It's expensive bringing up kids. Let's leave the "luxuries" - the school tours, the summer camps, the music lessons, the football kit, the phone credit. Energy costs are up. Food costs are expensive. Clothing for growing youngsters isn't cheap - and shoes are downright dear. You have to pay out for childcare, because, well, the state wants both parents working. That's why the tax system was changed in 2000 to penalise couples where one partner stays at home full-time to mind the children. Sure, the Government helps out. A bit. But who pays the bulk? Oh yes, the parents. Both working (if they're lucky!) because that's what the taxation system demands from them. Then when your kid falls and injures himself, you take him to the doctor, and it costs you €50. If you just take him straight to the emergency department, because you can see he was going to be sent there anyway, you pay €100. If your second child gets sick that afternoon, it's back to the doctor, and, unless your doctor is merciful, which thankfully, some are, that's another €50! Oh, and the prescription? Do you have €20 or €30 left over after those two doctor's visits to pay for the medicine prescribed? With a tax on child benefit, they get you when your kids are young; with college fees on the way back in, they get you when your kids are older. Just as parents are finding themselves looking at pay packets that have been axed dramatically from last year's levels; wondering if in a month's time they will still have a job, and if they will be able to keep up the mortgage on a house worth possibly just half what they paid for it, they now have to watch and see will they benefit at all from the children's allowance. Happily, foster care payments are exempt from income tax. The Commission on Taxation report reveals that the 2008 rates of payment were €16,588 in respect of children under 12 years, and €17,992 per annum for a child over 12 years. So that's how much the state reckons it costs foster parents to raise a child. It's not entirely clear why the natural parents are expected to be able to do it for far less, but the children's allowance for your firstborn amounts to €1992 per year. What is clear is that there's a way around this. Swap children with someone else in your family. If you've no sisters or brothers with children, swap with your friends. Offer to foster your neighbour's children, and have them take yours. That way, you'll get a decent amount to help you bring up your neighbour's kids - and they will be able to afford to bring up yours.