Stephen McPartland, Member of Parliament for Stevenage, said, "I am disappointed that Treasury Minister David Gauke, is coming to Stevenage today to talk about R&D Tax Credits. I am boycotting the meeting and the media are not invited, as he does not want to talk about the cuts to Child Tax Credits I have uncovered.
"I voted against and have consistently spoken out about the proposed changes to Tax Credits. I have urged the Treasury to listen and introduce some form of mitigation. I am about to share on my website, House of Commons Library figures that prove Child Tax Credits will be cut for many families. This is completely unacceptable and destroys the Government's final defence that planned cuts do not apply to Child Tax Credits.
"Full details are available here, but putting it very simply, a family receives a Maximum Tax Credit Award. This is comprised of Working Tax Credits and Child Tax Credits, but importantly the proposed cut in the Threshold (income level at which you start losing tax credits) and increase to the Taper rate (amount taken away in every pound) applies to the Maximum Tax Credit Award. Consequently, once a family has lost all their Working Tax Credits, then they will begin losing their Child Tax Credits. The example I released today shows a massive cut in the family's maximum Child Tax Credit Award from 87% down to 51%, when the changes take effect in April next year.
"It is very clear that the Treasury has to come forward with measures to mitigate the effects of their changes to Tax Credits and protect families Child Tax Credits."
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