Budget 2012: 'Families with only one earner are being penalised' Stay-at-home dad Ian Buchanan is outraged at the Government's plans to remove child benefit from those earning over £60,000 per year. Mr Buchanan, pictured here with his wife Cassandra and their daughter Bea at their home in Peckham, London, said: "I cannot understand how one family with two earners bringing home £50,000 each will still receive child benefit, even with a combined income of £100,000, whereas families like ours will be either exempt from claiming any child benefit, or have their benefit restricted, even though our total income is a lot less than that." Mrs Buchanan, a deputy-head teacher at a London school, is a higher-rate earner and Mr Buchanan estimates that the couple will still be able to claim 50 per cent of the benefits due to the proposed tapering scale. "I understand that taxes need to be cut, but I was hoping for a fair tax cut that doesn't penalise families with only one earner," he said. However, it seems that the proposed conditions are even more unfair than they were previously. Mr Buchanan, who has one daughter with another baby due in May, also commented on the lack of movement on the fuel duty: "Currently my wife gets the train into work but I worry for her and our unborn baby's safety in the crowded carriages, and as her maternity leave gets closer, I will have to resort to driving her to and from work. This will be costly for us as a family, as the congestion charge itself is three times the amount of the train fare, not to mention the cost of petrol on top.