Petition · past parliament · HM Treasury
Allow households to combine personal income tax thresholds
Closed
29 signatures
What the petition asks
Allow households to choose whether to opt for taxation using personal thresholds or 'family thresholds', where personal thresholds are combined, as families with one higher rate earner pay tax at a higher rate even if their overall income would be within a combined standard rate tax threshold.
Families can be taxed more as a household because an individual may have a higher salary, for example:
Family 1 has 2 parents, 1 earning £8,000 a year and another earning £60,000. Family 2 has 2 parents, both on £35,000 a year.
Family 1 does not benefit from Child Benefit payments as they are deemed to earn too much, and have almost £10,000 taxed at the higher rate tax, whereas family 2 are able to fully benefit from Child Benefit and pay less in tax than family 1 but have a higher gross annual income.
Family 1 has 2 parents, 1 earning £8,000 a year and another earning £60,000. Family 2 has 2 parents, both on £35,000 a year.
Family 1 does not benefit from Child Benefit payments as they are deemed to earn too much, and have almost £10,000 taxed at the higher rate tax, whereas family 2 are able to fully benefit from Child Benefit and pay less in tax than family 1 but have a higher gross annual income.
Timeline
| 1 Jun 2023 | Petition opened for signatures |
| 1 Dec 2023 | Closed to new signatures |
Key facts
Signatures
29
Status
Closed
Department
HM Treasury
Opened
1 Jun 2023
Closed
1 Dec 2023
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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.