Child Benefit cut is stealth tax on children – One Family

Wednesday 23 November 2011

One Family, Ireland’s leading organisation for one-parent families, say that any reduction in Child Benefit would be a blow to all middle-earner families, but for some families, in particular those parenting alone, it would be a further step towards living in consistent poverty.

‘Children don’t have the broadest shoulders in our society, so this disastrous idea needs to be replaced by a policy targeted at those who do,’ says Stuart Duffin, One Family Welfare to Work Manager, ‘We have to look at why Child Benefit exists in the first place. It is an essential part of the income of most one-parent families. It allows parents to do what are considered quite basic things by a lot of people – such as buying healthy food options and affording items such as story books and educational toys which help with their children’s development.’

He goes on to point out that ideally, the wealthiest households should carry