The Economist has
repeatedly criticised the Conservative Party’s proposal to permit married couples to pool their income tax allowances. The plan would benefit single-breadwinner families, who, under the present system, are effectively waiving the Personal Allowance of the non-working partner. The magazine deemed the proposal both paternalistic, for trying to
“tempt couples down the aisle” and regressive:
“most of the poorest families would not benefit. […] of the 3.9m children living in poverty only 11% would stand to gain.”