When the marriage tax break gets wheeled out by the Conservative leadership, it is usually a sure sign it is feeling nervous about its standing with backbenchers on the right of the party. Cameron’s announcement that a tax break for married couples will be a flagship policy in the Autumn Statement later this year may make for smart intra-party politics. But it fails an effective policy test on several levels.
First, it is a very poor way of targeting resources at families that need them the most. Since 2010, working couples with children are on average £1,100 a year worse off, and single parents have been similarly hit. A £150-a-year tax break will provide a very modest amount of relief in this context but only to two-parent families in which a couple has decided to get married. Why are these families any more deserving than, say, a family in which a lone parent has been left by their partner?
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