Closed petition Link tax codes for couples

Closed on 30 March 2015

Couples who co-habit are assessed as a couple where benefits are concerned but are treated as an individual with regards to income tax. This is unfair and penalises those who make the efforts and sacrifices to stay together as a family.

Many couples who only have one partner working for whatever reason are financially penalised by the refusal of benefits due to the level of income from one person even though other families are still able to receive benefits when their joint income far exceeds that of the lone worker.

The individual tax allowance allocated to stay at home, unemployed or low earning partners is not used as they do not have sufficient income to put against it.

This petition is to ask that Married and Civil Parnership Couples should be entitled to claim any unused tax allowance from one partner to the other. This would create a fairer system of taxation that recognises the bond within a family in the same manner that the benefit system already uses.