A couple on £225k told the Telegraph they paid too much tax to have children and these 17 A++ responses all come tax free

To the offices of the Daily Telegraph now, where a couple blamed something called the ‘cliff edge tax trap’ for not having children.

Matthew and Nicole Griffiths apparently earn a combined £225,000 a year which is by their account not enough to pay for bringing up kids, having totted up (hypothetically, presumably) ‘£40,000 in childcare bills’.

We say presumably because a Telegraph subscription is one of the things we’ve had to cut back on of late (when we say ‘of late’, we mean the day we were born).

Here’s how the Telegraph framed it.

And – not for the first time, obviously – it really is all about the replies.

1.

Remember guys, £26,000 is too much for someone on minimum wage to earn.

But £225,000 is too little to live on. https://t.co/1FX0iA97eF

— Iris Duane (@IrisDuane) January 11, 2026

2.

Are you literally joking a 225k joint income is a staggering amount of money to have. More than enough to raise kids with. Ridiculous out of touch nonsense

— Adam Boxer (@adamboxer1) January 11, 2026

3.

https://t.co/zxHiqkgBAO pic.twitter.com/mmRXUBEVfu

— frankie (@madebyfrankie) January 11, 2026

4.

If you’re earning £225,000 between you and you can’t afford to have children it’s clearly down to your own poor decision making and life choices.

— Politics For You (@PoliticoForYou) January 11, 2026

5.

I know you think its outrageous to be pleading poverty on a combined £225k, but the best part is its even more! They make up to 100 grand in Airbnb rentals https://t.co/Ivz2mIpPY7 pic.twitter.com/I3fN9RFVR2

— Ross McCafferty (@RossMcCaff) January 11, 2026

6.

Rolling into 2026 with the same old bullshit sob stories about people earning over six times the median UK salary:

a.) The problem is means testing childcare subsidies, not tax

b.) If you can’t make £225,000 a year work, I don’t know what to tell you. Buy less candles, I guess https://t.co/tRTBDX2Dpv

— Marl Karx (@BareLeft) January 11, 2026

7.

My wife and I earn much, much less than this and live a reasonably comfortable life with our 2 small children. If you feel poor on this salary then your lifestyle has clearly got out of hand, whatever the no doubt illogical vagaries of the tax system https://t.co/7lSiH0bcud

— Capel Lofft (@CapelLofft) January 10, 2026

8.

On a salary of £225k combined they can have kids it’s people earning £50-90k that are the ones questioning kids https://t.co/kMWFX4yoLR

— PoliticsBabe (@Bellhookschild) January 10, 2026

9.

If they stopped having avocado on toast every week they could afford it no problem https://t.co/kuT47j09Bw

— Simon Bajkowski (@spbajko) January 11, 2026