Truss pledges immediate tax relief review for stay-at-home parents
Liz Truss has pledged to conduct an immediate review into providing tax relief for stay-at-home parents and carers if she is made Prime Minister.
The foreign secretary said she would look at treating households as “single tax entities” so that “people aren’t penalised for taking time out of work to care for family or their children”.
The policy announcement comes as Truss and Rishi Sunak today begin a six-week campaign to win the votes of 200,000 Tory party members.
Whoever wins the race will be announced as next party leader and UK Prime Minister on 5 September.
Truss’ campaign today said there is £1 trillion worth of “behind the scenes caring contributions, which lessen the burden on the public purse” and that it is “only right to support these individuals”.
Truss said: “Hardworking families are the bedrock of a stable society, and one of my top priorities as Prime Minister would be easing the tax burden on families.
“They don’t just look after themselves but also build communities, charities and even businesses. We will review the taxation of families to ensure people aren’t penalised for taking time out to care for their children or elderly relatives.”
Truss is running as a candidate from the right of the party and has promised a return to Thatcherite, low-tax economic policies.
She has already pledged £30bn+ in tax cuts, with promises to overturn the recent National Insurance rise and cancel a planned increase in Corporation Tax.
Sunak has said her tax plans, which would be funded by borrowing, are “something for nothing economics” that are more socialist in spirit than conservative.
A source close to Truss said that “we have to do more to ensure people looking after children or elderly relatives aren’t hit in the pocket for doing the right thing”.
“The whole health and social care system is designed so people pay in to be able to access services, but if they are not using those services and looking after family members themselves, then they should be better supported to do that,” they said.