Can we have a stronger line against marriage tax breaks, please?

I am very pleased to see that Nick Clegg has spoken out about how stupid the Tories' plans for marriage tax breaks are. He's done that consistently over the last 3 years, most recently on last week's Call Clegg LBC show. 

What I'm not so chuffed about is the line put about by a "senior Liberal Democrat source" in today's Times  (£) which says that the Government couldn't introduce a marriage tax break before we got to a tax threshold of £10,000.

Well, it's guaranteed we're going to get there anyway, as I showed way back in December. The legislation already exists to make sure it'll happen without George Osborne's help.

When our people are briefing the press on this issue, they need to reinforce Nick's points about how silly it is to put up taxes for single people and people who aren't married.

And, anyway, if the Government's got half a billion a year going begging, then, I would suggest, there are plenty better uses for it. Sorting out the bedroom tax fiasco for a start.....

But, seriously, Nick has made a good case against marriage tax breaks. Let's just stick with what he says without appearing to negotiate on the pages of the Times.

You don’t need the taxman to tell you whether you should get married or not,“And you certainly, I don’t think, need the taxman to tell you that you’re going to pay higher taxes because either you’re not in a relationship or you’re not married.

Tories complain that Osborne is "kow-towing" to Liberal Democrats on marriage tax break

The very idea of a tax break for people just because they choose to get married is one which will make the skin of just about any Liberal Democrat crawl.

The Coalition Agreement with the Conservatives allows us to abstain in any vote. That's not actually enough for me - voting against, particularly in the light of welfare reforms, would be the only acceptable course of action to me. I mean, you can't take benefits of someone sick and disabled and give them to a couple earning in excess of £100,000 a year between them just because they are married and maintain any perception of fairness.

So far, we've done better than voting against. The very idea hasn't even been put before Parliament despite the Conservatives being very keen on it. The Telegraph is reporting that George Osborne has ruled out introducing such a tax break in the budget, which has angered Conservative MPs. The Chancellor is being accused of "kow-towing" to the Liberal Democrats.

The article goes on to mention that Danny Alexander is keen on ending higher rate tax relief on pension contribution and moving to increase the tax threshold to £12,500 by the end of the Parliament showing that the Liberal Democrat's first priority is the lowest paid.

The Telegraph wants its own readers to be horrified, but the article is music to my ears.