Child Benefit losers: are they rich, well-off or just in the middle?

Are you rich? Well-off? Rolling in it? In poverty? Talking about money can be a little uncomfortable for reserved Britons. Certainly, not many people are too keen to disclose exactly how much they earn. And my suspicion is that most people tend to overestimate how much other people get paid.

The lack of disclosure complicates political conversation about lots of issues. Here at the Conservative Party conference, many many Conservative MPs are privately, and not so privately, unhappy at plans to take child benefit away from households where at least one person pays higher rate income tax, which by the time this applies in 2013 will mean earning roughly £44,000 gross.

Their anger, and that of many voters (especially those on Mumsnet — join their debate here) is partly based on the idea that those who will lose out are not the super-rich but people who are just getting by.

So who are the "victims" here? David Cameron this morning said that someone earning £44,000 a year is "not rich", but they are "better off". Which probably doesn't do much to answer the question.

Since everyone has different ideas of what the words mean here, it's probably best to look at some figures. According to those clever chaps and chapesses at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, someone earning, say, £45,000 a year with two children is actually doing pretty well. In fact, the IFS says, that person has "a higher income than around 78% of the population – equivalent to about 46.7 million individuals."

Oh, and the much quoted hypothetical household where a single earner is on £80,000 a year while his/her spouse stays at home with the kids? Well that househould has a higher income than around 96% of the population – equivalent to about 57.5 million individuals. Ie, they're extremely well off, thanks very much.

These figures come from the IFS's brilliant income distribution calculator, which you can see by clicking here. If you have a second, I heartily recommend a look, to see where you, and the various child benefit case-studies, fit in.