Broken promises and tax credit cuts

They’ve been described as plans based on “political and class dogma, and not economic necessity” by Unite general secretary, Len McCluskey; part of an economic package that will worsen inequality, by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) ; and dubbed the “Work Penalty” that will threaten any “sense of optimism, opportunity and security” in this country by the Labour Party.

The government’s cuts to tax credits: they’ve got a lot of attention, but not much support.

Tomorrow night (October 20) the Commons will vote on these changes. If they pass it’ll mean that the earnings threshold at which tax credits can be withdrawn will be slashed from £6,420 to £3,850.

They’re also rushing through cuts to child tax credits, which will mean families can’t claim for more than two children.

The Tories have said this will only apply to children born after April 6, 2017 but if you stop claiming for more than six months and then need support again, you’ll only receive money for two children – regardless of when they were born.

This isn’t what the electorate voted for: before the election David Cameron promised he wouldn’t cut child tax credits.

Now the ‘lies’ are coming thick and fast. After making a u-turn on their pre-election promise, the Tories claimed that nine out of 10 families would be better off under their changes.

Cherry-picking

But they’re cherry picking the figures: 3.3m households will on average lose £1,300 a year. To cope with the cuts, it’s estimated you’d have to earn £11 an hour; the paltry National Minimum Wage (£6.70 an hour) comes nowhere near this.

Neither does the government’s so-called National Living Wage (£7.20 an hour by next April, £9 an hour by 2020), which you’ll only get if you’re over 25 and won’t offset benefit cuts.

After Michelle Dorrell, a self-employed single mother, broke down on Question Time over the impending cuts to tax credits, the reality of the Tories’ plan has become clear.

Women will be affected disproportionately by the changes; one million single parents in work will be ÂŁ1,000 poorer and one and a half million married women will lose ÂŁ600 a year.

It’ll hammer not just people on zero hours contracts and in low-paid work but also cabin crew members, bank workers and distribution staff.

The union Unison has designed a calculator to estimate how much you could stand to lose (click on link to see how you’ll be affected). One thing is clear – the breadth of the effect will be wide.

Time and again Tory cabinet ministers and MPs have repeated the government’s lacklustre response that people will be better off because of the changes.

But a number of Tory MPs could be unsure about committing to the government’s plan when it comes to the vote.

Over the weekend it emerged that 71 Tory MPs* have more families living in their constituency who’ll be affected by the cuts than their parliamentary majority in May.

‘Poll tax’ moment?

This could be the government’s poll tax moment, so it’s worth urging your local MP to vote against the cuts.

Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner believes, “slashing £4.4bn’s worth of tax credits is a vindictive assault on low-income families.

“The Tory leadership says it wants to make work pay,” he added. “But if you look at the details in their budget, cuts to tax credits actually create a disincentive to work.”

Len McCluskey has attacked the government’s decision as “heartless” and asked George Osborne change direction.

“Increasingly, this government’s claims to be on the side of hardworking families yet granting the rich and powerful the constant indulgence of successive tax breaks, is fast becoming a sick joke.

“Osborne’s looming working tax credits cuts are bringing terror to those working long hours on low incomes.

“To them, George Osborne does not look so much like a leader in waiting as the hammer of the ordinary working people and their children. His appalling plans to attack working incomes must be dropped, now,” he said.

*If you are in one of the 71 constituencies there’s still time to email your MP now and urge them to get George Osborne to not cut tax credits. For their details see www.theyworkforyou.com