Have I got this right?

A question about : Have I got this right?

This is a simple question and maybe I'm being a bit thick, but it sounds very unbalanced to me:

Mr Smith lives alone, earning a salary Ј25000 per year, his personal tax allowance is 1000L, therefore his contributions are calculated on Ј15000 per year, paid through PAYE.

Miss Jones Lives alone, and earns only Ј2500 per year with a part time job, her tax code is also 1000L and therefore pays no income tax, she may be entitled to benefits due to a low income.

Mr Smith and Miss Jones get together one night and sparks fly, a year or so later they decide to live together.

At this point, when considering any benefits, the government consider Mr Smith and Miss Jones as a single financial unit - because when Miss Jones enquires about low income benefits she must declare Mr Smiths income too.
Combined, their annual income disqualifies Miss Smith from any benefits.

Here's my confusion...

The same government that considers them as a combined earning unit does not offer any concession on the personal tax allowance? COMBINED they have a PTA of Ј20,000. Meaning that COMBINED they Could be taxed only on just7500 per year. But even though they are a single household (and awarded any benefits as such) they are taxed as individuals, and therefore taxed on Ј15000 per year.

HMRC are therefore cashing in on the Ј7500 PTA not used by Miss Jones, and the government are not awarding her any benefit because of Mr Smiths salary.

So, even though living as a couple is greener and costs the country less, Miss Jones' benefits/PTA are instead subsidized by Mr Smiths Salary.

....or am I missing something?

Best answers:

• No, you're not missing anything. If you don't like it, your MP is the person to talk to.
• Its the law of the land. Taxation is individual.
  Miss Jones needs to find a 'proper' job or a couple more part time jobs.
• But the same would be true if the sparks had burned hot enough to make them into one legal unit, ie a married couple.
  And if the sparks have flown, is it unreasonable to suggest that they should look out for each other? Or am I just very old-fashioned in my attitude that he earns it, I spend it? At least, that's been my attitude for most of my married life: some of the time I've been earning it and there's been none spare to spend.
• If Romeo and Juliet make it over to Friar Lawrence, there may be good news from the tax man.....
  https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...l_partners.pdf
• But neither Romeo nor Juliet were resident or domiciled in the UK, so they won't have a personal allowance to transfer.
• Thanks for confirming.
  Miss Jones may well seek a 'proper' job when circumstances allow, in the mean time I would have thought some parity from the government may have been a sensible suggestion, to many people.
  Anyway, it seems from the above document that 2015 tax year sees married couple benefit about Ј17.50 per month in transferrable tax allowance.