Sir, - The measures introduced in the Budget regarding the standard rate bands for couples can be summed up very simply: what you gain in disposable income from paying less tax at the higher rate you lose in childcare expenses. Your net gain or loss is largely determined by how much you spend on childcare.
From what I can see, the Budget's approximation is that if you have two children requiring weekly childcare you will neither lose nor gain by deciding to take up full-time employment. Effectively, this removes any serious financial concerns for a great many partners who are trying to make a decision between family and career.
Mr McCreevy has used the Budget and tax system to achieve this, rather than setting up yet another complicated scheme to compensate PAYE workers for childcare payments. It is unfortunate that imaginative fiscal planning such as this has been attacked so vehemently by shortsighted and misinformed interest groups that it now looks unlikely to find its way into the Finance Act. - Yours, etc.,
Garreth McDaid, Sandyford Hall View, Dublin 18.