How do you solve a problem like child benefit?

There has understandably been a lot of controversy surrounding the announcement by Chancellor Osborne of his intention to withdraw child benefit from 'high-earners' - being those earning more than £44,000.

Given Ireland's dire fiscal straits it is illuminating to watch how this will play out, since there must now be pressure on child benefit payments in upcoming budgets.

Some of the problems with tackling this issue are set out in this Guardian article. The delicate balancing act for David Cameron's government - and any government contemplating this - is encapsulated in these survey results.

Cameron was buoyed by a YouGov poll issued last night showing that 83% of people are in favour of higher-rate taxpayers losing child benefit. But some 46% still thought it was unacceptable to impose a crude cut-off at £44,000.

Child benefit is a universal payment. The same amount is paid to parents that are millionaires as to those who survive on jobseekers allowance. A cut in the rate will more proportionately impact on lower income families.

In Ireland child benefit costs the exchequer over €2.2bn annually. It is unlikely that such a large slice of expenditure can be unaffected by cuts in government expenditure.

But if it cannot be cut across the board how can savings be achieved? Is it possible to pick a level over which no payment is made. So in the UK will there be an incentive for a worker to take a pay rise that brings their salary over £44k? And this applies at any level you can choose.

Means testing is also problematic since the cost of implementing the test may be greater than the savings achieved.

Perhaps the solution is to have a sliding scale at various wage levels. Also, different amounts are paid for each child, with the payment for the third and subsequent children being higher than for the first two. Does this make sense when there may be 'economies of scale' in hand-me-down clothes and equipment?

Perhaps the most sensible way to do this is to tax child benefit like any other payment such as pensions. Child benefit can be included on individual's tax returns and in time when the tax and social welfare systems are integrated this wold be even more efficient. It would also make the payment more progressive.

Of course, this is all based on the premise that child benefit is something we should have in the first place. But what government will go there?