Originally Posted by Flyboy

But why should a couple, who earn nearly ninety-thousand pounds a year, be treated better than those who earn less? I can see self-employed people fiddling their incomes to balance their earnings more equally, with their partners, to make sure that neither of them earn more than the high rate threshold. It will remove incentives for people to earn higher incomes, reducing potential growth in the economy and lowering tax revenues. If a self-employed person has earned forty-three thousand pounds by March, he is not going to want to earn anymore, becasue he will lose his child benefit. How will they manage self-employed people? Typically, their incomes are not calculated until the end of the tax year. If the previous year they earned less than the higher rate threshold, will they have to repay the child benefit for that year? If they can't repay it, will they be sent to prison?