PETITIONRejectedPetition · petition.parliament.uk
One wage should be enough - make tax fair for families
Introduce Optional Joint Filing for married couples and civil partners. Let households pool income, split it equally, and apply both partners’ tax allowances and bands. Keep individual filing as default so no one is worse off.
Last fetched 03 May 2026 · petition.parliament.uk
Signatures
9
signatures
Government response threshold (10,000) · 9/10,000
Debate threshold (100,000) · 9/100,000
Background
The UK tax system penalises families where one parent earns most or all of the income. Two people on £33k each pay far less tax than one earner on £66k supporting a partner and children. Optional Joint Filing fixes this unfairness, makes one wage go further, reduces reliance on Universal Credit, and brings us in line with family-friendly systems like Germany and France.