Is there a wish for us to read articles in serious papers about young and old at war with each other?
I spent a happy family weekend finding out ways I could support my mother and my children, while they supported me, as young adults and genuinely old people do!
I did not feel beset , nor should anyone. We are clear how we go forward, it will be the best way for us all and is entirely dependent on how tax falls on us (and how we can plan to minimise it.
We have no paranoia and we spent none of the weekend discussing the social media of the youngsters or the reading matter of the genuinely old! Neither can make for a happy October of November.
Paranoia is the right word.. the Times is a particular advocate for the beset pensioner, this headline is from June this year and started a chain of articles on taxing pensioners
Johanna Noble is keen to wind up a certain generation against its children! She did it this weekend as well….
Of course she is right to point out that excess money in the pension pot could be diverted to the tax man rather than pass to beneficiaries – on death or second death.
It is very possible that those receiving income from pensions or drawing it from pots may find, after November 26th that they are paying national insurance to match their demand on the NHS’ resources. Alternatively , they may follow a recommendation from the left..
This is a taste of Times gossip on the matter
The prevailing sentiment seem to be that pensioners are wealthy dead wood that should bear more of the financial burden. Last month the Resolution Foundation, a left-leaning think tank, suggested that Rachel Reeves should shift the tax burden away from workers and on to those who take most from the state — namely, pensioners.
It suggested a 2p cut to national insurance, matched by a 2p rise in income tax. Most people over state pension age stop paying national insurance, so this proposal would hurt millions who pay income tax on their pensions.
Whether the chancellor will listen to the think tank’s recommendation is yet to be seen but it doesn’t bode well that Torsten Bell, the think tank’s former chief executive and now the pensions secretary, was last month given a central role in writing the budget.
The VFM podcast point of view
The speculation at the moment is high. I spend the last one hour ten minutes of my train journeys back home last night listening to Nico and Darren with a pension policy wonk (Dave Brooks). This is not the AFCB right winger whose recovered from Hodgkin lymphoma . It is the Broadstone DB spokesperson and client manager,
They spent most of their time gossiping over pension taxation as it really is any of our business.
You can listen here – go on – I know you have to do something with your days!
Mc Phail’s point of view
And inevitably they get on to Pension’s Social Media superstar, Tom McPhail who is also in the Times, explaining why he is taking his tax-free cash now in readiness (at 59) of not being able to when he is 60.
The Pension Commission should be left alone
The Pension Plowman’s view is that this philosophical debate on who pays for whom, who pays the tax, who pays the national insurance and who meets the Care fees, is something that the Pension Commission can spend 18 months sorting out between themselves.
In the meantime, the job of pension gossip faction and the journalists ( and of course the bloggers) is not really a job -it’s one big gossip space. The Pension Commission should be pension gossip free.
Reeves and Bell should sort out pensions and pensioner taxation (and left alone)
We should let Reeves and Bell get on with it. The Pension Commission will happen around the point when the Labour Party are preparing for re-election (so it will be passed to a new Government – maybe then).
Reeves and Bell must make sure that the country is run to a budget and I don’t think we could have a better pair to do this. They will do what they feel needs be done, we voted them in ahead of the alternatives.
The Pension Plowman point of view
My view is simple, leave it to Government to work out who pays what for what. We are better off not getting involved either in speculation before or protests after – over which way support is adjusted.
In the meantime, love your kids if you’re old and your parents if you are young and accept that there’s nothing that you can do about what happens on 26th November except make sure you are ready for change!
