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David Cameron’s policy is to ‘send a signal’ that marriage is better than any other type of relationship. Our campaign is ‘sending a signal’ back: don’t judge my family.

Sign up to our campaign and send a message to the Tories. Make your feelings clear by pledging that if you are ever eligible for David Cameron’s Marriage Tax Allowance, you’ll give it to charity.

Why?

•It is judgemental
•Other people need it more
•It just won’t work
•It is an irresponsible waste of money

It is judgemental >>

‘Sending out a signal’ that marriage is better than any other stable and loving relationship is just plain offensive. The Tories are telling us that old fashioned families where one partner goes out to work and the other stays at home are better than other types of family. Modern families just aren’t like that any more. Society has moved on. They have not.

Our campaign Don’t Judge My Family thinks great families come in all shapes and sizes, and that has nothing to do with the government.

Other people need it more >>

The marriage tax allowance actually discriminates against some people who need more help:

•It does not help the very poorest - couples where both partners earn under £6,555 don’t pay income tax anyway
•It does not help widows or widowers who have lost their partner
•It does not help single mums or dads, trying to give their kids the
best start in life
•It does not help women or men who have left violent or unhappy relationships
•It does not help couples where both partners are going out to work to try to do the best for themselves and their families

Sign up to our campaign and make your feelings clear by pledging that if you are ever eligible for the marriage tax allowance, you’ll give it to charity. Our campaign page can give you some ideas of who to give it to.

It just won’t work >>

£3 per week isn’t enough to bribe people to get married or stay married - just ask anyone who’s been divorced. Or ask an independent think-tank:

“The incentives to marry – or not to divorce – provided by a policy whose maximum benefit is £150 a year must surely be weak relative to the other costs and benefits involved."
Institute for Fiscal Studies, 9th April 2010.

For more information on why it won’t work, go to our policy page.

It’s an irresponsible waste of money >>

If a responsible government had over half a billion pounds to spend on helping vulnerable kids and supporting unstable relationships, surely it should be targeted on SureStart, children’s centres, relationship counselling and supporting charities helping kids get the best start in life. In this fiscal climate, a responsible government would not spend £550m of taxpayers' money on ‘sending a signal’.

What can you do?

Sign up to our campaign against the proposed Marriage Tax Allowance. We’ll keep you posted with news from the campaign and lots of ideas.

Pledge that if you’re ever eligible for the Marriage Tax Allowance, you’ll give it to charity.

Send this to your friends and share the campaign online.

Send us your photos of your family with a sign telling David Cameron ‘Don’t Judge My Family’.

Write a letter to your local conservative candidate telling them not to judge your family. Shadow Secretary Ken Clarke already disagrees with his party’s policies. Can you get your MP or candidate to say the same? You can find their address at www.theyworkforyou.com.

Let us know how you get on.

Thousands back JK Rowling's tax attack: The Mirror features the campaign.

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“Don’t judge my family” highlighted in the Guardian today, as Harriet Harman attacks the marriage proposals as "smug Victorian finger-wagging over marriage".

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Polly Toynbee praises the campaign today in the Guardian.

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“Marital status of parents has little impact on a child’s development.”

The Nuffield Foundation report comes as a blow to the Conservatives, whose election manifesto includes a flagship pledge to give tax breaks of up to £150 a year to married couples to encourage stability. Read more in the Telegraph.

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“The Independent View: Tory plan for marriage tax allowance flies in face of what Lib Dems stand for.” Read more at the Lib Dem Voice.

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A taxing problem for single-issue campaigners: The Conservatives' promise to give preferential treatment to married couples has mobilised a new force in British politics. Sarah Cassidy reports in the Independent.

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“Maybe you know people who would legally bind themselves to another human being, for life, for an extra £150 a year? Anything is possible; but somehow, I doubt it.”

Read JK Rowling’s comment in The Times

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Conservatives to recognise one third of marriages in the tax system

Download the Institute for Fiscal Studies press release.