Child Benefit should be universal but tax high-earners more

RESPONDING to developments in Britain and Minister for Children Barry Andrews's suggestion that Child Benefit be withdrawn from some children, Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh called on the Government to maintain Child Benefit as a universal payment and tax high-earners more.

He said:

Moves by the Government to cut or restrict eligibility for Child Benefit would in fact be a counter-productive ‘cost- cutting’ measure. By removing child benefit from high-earners it would actually make Child Benefit up to 30 times more expensive to administer.

Responses to parliamentary questions that I received last week reveal that the current cost of administering child benefit stands at 0.2% of the spend on it.  The introduction of a means test could cause the cost of administering the scheme to rise to 6% (the current cost of administering the means-tested Supplementary Welfare Allowance).

Child benefit must be kept as a universal benefit.  The logical solution is to tax high-earners more.  A third tax band should be introduced taxing 48% on individual earnings in excess of €100,000. This would increase tax revenue in a fairer way while keeping administration costs low.