Social justice ; back to work !

Jo Sullivan, Liverpool, Merseyside

Why have the Tories mentioned working tax credits. Tax credits have been a right mess and cost a fortune to administer, and are regurarly wrong. Just get rid of them and up the zero tax band.

Al, Newcastle,

Married, what exactly is married?
I have 4 children; 2, 12, 13 and 14 years of age who are thiving academically, socially and spiritually and my partner and I are not married, but have been in a 'stable relationship' for the past 17 years.
We both work now and have always done so and take exception to the generalisation that non married couples are insome way inferior parents.
Who does it suit for us to be married? The government? The church? (Which of the many?)
I am sure there are very many loving and caring parents who are not married, who work hard to provide for there children and resent the 'nanny state' telling us how to live our lives and now to make matters worse, the Tories are prepared to use bribery in their hoppocritical crusade.

John Montgomery, Morvern, Scotland

This idea seems so obvious that I don't really see what there is to debate (except for the absurd idea of limiting benefits to married couples only). If a mother gives up work, leaving the father as sole breadwinner, why on earth does he continue to be taxed as if his partner is earning? Why should a father who is supporting a wife and child(ren) get charged higher rate tax on anything over £34,600, while a childless working couple (earning roughly the same as each other) effectively only pay higher rate tax when their combined earnings exceed £69,200? It's hardly surprising that people are waiting later and later to have children - or giving up on the idea altogether - when the tax system penalises single-income households in this way.

Johnny, London,

Marriage between a man & a woman provides more chance of a stable home environment. Successive governments have removed all fiscal support for marriage, they have skewed the tax & benefits system to encourage single parenthood. One bizarre feature of tax credits, is a single parent with 2 children who works for just 16 hours can expect an income of £487 a week after these credits are paid. But the breadwinner of a two-parent family, also with 2 children, would have to work 116 hours to get the same amount. It’s time the imbalance was addressed. 70% of delinquents & drug addicts come from lone parent families. Children from broken homes often do poorly at school, have a higher than average chance of drifting into crime, make up a high proportion of the prison population & all too often end up jobless & dependent on benefits. Same sex marriages should get no married couples tax benefits whatsoever & children should not be allowed to be fostered or adopted by people in these relationships

Lynda Plum, London, england