The Sunday Telegraph has reported that the government has just agreed to shell out welfare payments for polygamous marriages.
Even though bigamy carries a prison sentence in the UK, if the marriages took place abroad then the husband can claim benefits for them all.
Although I'm personally opposed to polygamy, I believe it should be permissible in a free society. As long as all parties are aware it is happening then fair enough. If a bloke wants to set up his own harem then good luck to him. He can even employ eunuchs if he can find men willing to sign up for it.
What is despicable though is to set up a harem and then expect everybody else to subsidise it. If you take on multiple wives or husbands, then you should be able to support them. If you can't, then maybe you've over-extended your means and should reconsider. Most people are opposed to polygamy, and generally resent the fact that the welfare state absorbs about 30% of tax money - so skulking along to the welfare office to get everybody else to pay for your four wives is a bloody cheek.
I don't quite see what Labour hopes to get out of this. The number of polygamists must be marginal, whereas the number of people who will resent this must be massive. Surely there comes a point where votes gained from welfare recipients are cancelled out by votes lost from disgruntled tax payers.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Benefits of polygamy
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7 comments:
Interesting post. I tend to agree that the benefits should be limited to one spouse, even if polygamy is not always about 'setting up a harem'. But maybe from the government perspective they realised that they don't stop benefits at a certain number of children (ie, don't try to indirectly place legal limits on how many children may choose to have) and that it followed that a third wife shouldn't suffer any more than a ninth child.
Of course the difference is that a third wife is an adult who can choose to work and support herself, and society has a responsibility to protect the welfare of children, even if their parents make irresponsible decisions to have more than they can support.
It's easy to see how this new policy could be abused, but only by people who already accept polygamy as a way of life. Maybe they think that will limit the cost of the policy in real terms?
Hi Chosha,
I did wonder if the reason they're doing it is because if they did not recognise the polygamous relationship as valid, then they would have to pay out more money in single person's benefits. Perhaps it's a cost-saving exercise.
The question to ask here is why the benefit system should recognise marriage at all.
And as couples get less than two singles, treating a second wife as a wife not an individual ought to lead to a lower benefits bill.
Chances are this is the case, and the Telegraph is just being hysterical.
Joe - could they not equaly say that polygamy is illegal, and therefore no payments will be made to 2nd, 3rd wives etc. and criminal charges will also be considered. That would appear to be the legal solution.
Rather than this confused mess, I would prefer to see consensual polygamy legalised, but no benefits payouts for more than one wife.
Peter, but isn't it bizarre to recognise an illegal marriage. Surely if it is illegal the law shouldn't recognise it. And this would mean that an unrecognised wife would have the same rights as a housemate, wouldn't it?
I can see how the concept of benefits for dependants applies to children. But isn't it a nonsense applied to adults? The wife is not dependent on the husband for benefits, but on the state.
If two or more adults want to live in the same house, and maybe pool their money, isn't that their business? What business is it of anybody else who is sleeping with who?
terrible idea to payout money for more than one wife. Islam explicitly states you shoúld only take more than one if you can afford them. Indeed, you should only take A wife at all if you can afford them. So the guy in question, Islamically speaking, should really get no benefit whatsoever. Later
Although, C, it is not just Islam which permits multiple wives. It could also be Mormons or Satanists, pagans, or just a lifestyle choice.
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