Tax credits are failing ... again

Tax credits have been overpaid ... again. To the tune of about £2 billion ... again. Meaning that the poorest people in the country are going to have to find thousands of pounds to pay back the tax man ... again. And as always this is just coming from the people that have claimed them, not the people that could claim but are scared off by the prospect of overpayment and being forced to hand the money back to the treasury, or the people that simply could not get though the massive forms to try and get them.

They don't work, they are over complicated, they end up hurting the people they should be helping, they create disincentives for people to try and help themselves. Tax credits need to be scrapped. Bring in a personal allowance large enough so that people in (relative) poverty are not paying income tax.