What is Iain Duncan Smith proposing?
The Tories’ social justice policy group wants to change the present tax and benefit system to “support marriage through a more favourable treatment of married couples in the tax and benefit system”. He wants a tax relief that could be transferred between wife and husband but would not be available to cohabiting couples. He also wants to “acknowledge family ties” through tax allowances for “dependants such as elderly relatives, children and non-working spouses”. He proposes “eliminating the bias against informal childcare”. At the moment there is no tax relief where a grandparent looks after a preschool child, although there is on the costs of workplace nurseries.
