Spousal Maintenance - is it taxable in UK?

Hi unfortunately the system here is that maintenance is out of the payers taxable income and tax free to the spouse. I have been paying for years and lost my job a year ago but kept paying for the while. This created two problems;
1. I was higher rate - my ex is extremely aggressive but to earn an income to live on and pay her say 1500 a month I need to earn an additional 30k per year- that reduces available work enormously and stresses me out.
2. Lazy ex spouse syndrome - she is not in the habit of paying tax -anything she earns is on the quiet ( rent, making and selling things) and none of the pains in para 1. I also think she is claiming various benefits she is not entitled to. I believe a key cause of this is a blissful non tax paying existance.

Personally I think the situation is sex discriminatory in that it treats the supported partner ( usually a woman) as financially illiterate and needing to be protected from such admin headaches as tax or reporting earnings. It is also a serious problem for payers when they lose their job and are then faced by potential court action on top of the stress of finding work.

We should look at adopting the American system where alimony is tax deductible to the payer but taxable to the receiver - so is included in the full picture and both parties have to report ( no lengthy expensive form E - just look at the tax return for income). That way we are all forced to grow up and act like adults.

Happy Chappy, so true! I feel your pain. One day someone will justify to me why I need to pay for an adult who is now a stranger!