Osborne slams “distorted priorities” of tax credit system
The Conservatives have attacked the Treasury’s much-heralded tax credits system for giving money to more than 100,000 families earning £50,000 or more.
Shadow chancellor George Osborne flagged up figures showing a total of 72,000 recipients of the means-tested credits had incomes of more than £52,500.
Some 36,000 recipients earned more than £55,000 and 7,000 recipients of the means-tested credits had incomes of more than £57,500.
The payout reflected the “distorted priorities” of chancellor Gordon Brown’s brainchild, Mr Osborne said.
“Why does a tax credit system failing so many of the poorest families also pay out money to thousands of the better off?” he added.
“We really should be asking ourselves whether taxpayers on average incomes of £15,000 should be providing means-tested benefits to people earning up to £66,000 a year.
“It is time Gordon Brown stopped getting his junior ministers to answer for the failing system and stood up to face the music himself.”
Defending the government’s record, paymaster general Dawn Primarolo said tax credits were designed to help nine out of ten families with the costs of rearing children.
Assuming the offensive on the issue, she said the Tories planned to axe support for at least 112,000 middle-income families.
“If they believe that middle-income households should receive no support from the state, they must say how many families they will remove from child benefit, and how many pensioners they will remove from the state pension, the winter fuel allowance, and the council tax rebate,” she said.
Critics have the attacked the inefficiencies of the tax credit system, which costs £14 billion a year to administer, after at least £1.9 billion was mistakenly paid out to two million households last year.
