Conservative plans to cut taxes for married couples have been the first casualty of the coalition betweeen Tories 
and the Liberal Democrats.
The tax break, which had been a centrepiece of Tory plans to promote marriage as a means of tackling “Broken Britain” had been championed by David Cameron (pictured) since he was elected leader of the party.
But it is believed that the plans, which were consistently attacked by the Liberal Democrats, will not be introduced as long as the Conservatives are in coalition with the Lib-Dems.
It is thought that the U-turn by the Conservatives on this issue and a number of other policy areas is in return for Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne being given a relatively free hand in the area of cutting public spending.
The news comes less than a week after a leading UK think tank published a report showing that British families face ‘couple penalties’ of up to double what they incurred in 1997.
The report, compiled by the widely respected Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said that the size of couple penalties have increased since 1997-98.
Under the current system of tax and benefits, the term “couple penalty” refers to the situation in which couples are financially worse off if they remain a couple rather than split up.
Research by Christian charity CARE (Christian Action Research and Education) has consistently shown that the couple penalty is affecting UK families.
Responding to the report, Nola Leach, chief executive of CARE said: “The tax and more particularly the tax credit system is unfair and does not make for stable family life.
“The loss of income if they marry or cohabit is so large that many must be forced to remain lone parents.”
The report looked at around 14,000 couples and found couple penalties are mainly the result of income support, jobseeker’s allowance, pension credit and child tax credit.
According to the report, “the current tax and benefit system is inconsistent in its approach, paying out benefits and tax credits according to family circumstances but levying income tax according to an individual’s income”.
In February a report by CARE showed that UK married couples with children pay a third more in tax than similar families in other developed countries.
The report also showed that the proportion of income taken in tax from middle income families has more than doubled in 40 years, despite having stayed the same for single people.
CARE’s Director of Parliamentary Affairs, Dan Boucher, said at the time: “The failure of the UK tax system to recognise family responsibilities makes it one of the most individualistic tax systems in the world.”