Vol. 518 No. 2
79 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Finance if a widower with three children who is paying £200 per week in child care expenses is accommodated by the recent changes in the Finance Act, 2000, under the specific measure to deal with caring for children. [11253/00]
There are two provisions in this year's Finance Act which relate to child care. Section 12 introduced a new tax allowance for home carers. The allowance may be claimed by married couples who are jointly assessed where one spouse cares for one or more dependent persons. Dependent persons include children for whom child benefit is payable, this covers all children under 16 and children under 19 in full-time education. Section 63 made certain changes to the capital allowances for buildings used for certain child care purposes. Neither of these two provisions would directly benefit a taxpayer in the circumstances described by the Deputy. A number of proposals have been made to extend the allowance for home carers to other caring situations and I will look at these requests for next year's budget.
All taxpayers, including widowed taxpayers, will benefit from the general tax improvements introduced in the Finance Act, 2000, that is, the increase in personal allowances of £500 single, the widening of the standard rate band by £3,000 and the 2% reduction in both the standard and top income tax rates. In particular, the individualisation of the standard rate band benefits working parents, including widowed parents. They will also benefit from the budget increase in the child benefit rates of £8 per month for the first and second child and £10 per month for subsequent children.
The Finance Act, 2000, also introduced reforms in the tax treatment of widowed persons in particular. These include the doubling and standard rating of the widowed person's allowance, the widowed parent bereavement allowance and the increase in the mortgage interest relief ceiling to the same level as that which applies to married couples.
Both the general and specific measures outlined above should assist widowed parents in meeting child care expenses.
