December 22, 2003
Ebenezer Blair
In the US, dependents are taken into account before money is withheld from paychecks. This is not the case in the UK. As I have mentioned before, the Government has created a complex system of child tax credits and working tax credits, so that after it takes the same amount of money away from everyone regardless of family situation, it can then give back the right amount to everyone who shouldn't have had it taken off in the first place. It also takes money off of unemployment benefits and pays money back to those same people not in work. It requires a great amount of legwork on the part of the taxpayer/credit recepient to get the credits in place, but it is essential because it forms an important part of the family budget for over 6,000,000 Britons.
Now the Government has discovered that it has overpaid in thousands of cases. Of course it wants its money back. Now. As a result, in the days before Christmas, families have received notices that not only has their weekly budget been cut, but they bank accounts will be drained as well.
The Government's Paymaster General has gone on the telly to assure everyone that no one will suffer hardship. They can get top-up payments from the Inland Revenue. All they have to do it ring. Just like they had to do when the Government screwed up the system to start with in April and 500,000 people hadn't gotten their payments by late May.
Then they will have to send in all of their supporting documentation -- bills, leases, bank statements, blood samples, first-born child, etc., and wait 12 weeks or so to get any response from Inland Revenue. Well, unless the Revenue officer puts in in the wrong basket and then no one takes responsibility for it...
Yes, thanks to HM Treasury, it looks to be a very unmerry Christmas and not a very happy New Year for a lot of British families.