WHY DOES COALITION KEEP ON TARGETING OUR PENSIONERS?

WHAT on earth is the Government thinking?
Surely it cannot be true that they are serious about taxing state pensions at source? I hope to hear a rapid rebuttal with the Chancellor telling us he has decided to reject this idea straightaway.

If we do not hear strong denials the Cabinet will continue to appear as terribly out of touch. Penalising older people who need protection is not the mark of a caring Government. If retired people are due to pay tax on pensions (though around half of them probably have incomes too low to be taxpayers) then trust them to pay it, don’t confiscate it from everyone – including those who should not be taxed.

A report from the Public Accounts Committee in 2010 concluded that older people “are more likely to comply with their tax obligations than other taxpayers but are less likely to understand them and many pay more tax than they need to”.

In addition the committee said that HMRC’s computer system failings contributed to an estimated 1.5million pensioners paying £250million extra tax on private pensions and around 2.4million pensioners have also overpaid around £200million in tax because they had it deducted from savings income at source. This has led to calls for improvements in the Government’s systems that will help pensioners pay the right amount but that does not mean imposing extra tax burdens on poor pensioners.

I just cannot believe that the Government could really be serious about deducting tax at source from state pensions. But we have not yet heard any denials, which is very worrying. It is surely inconceivable that the Government really would impose tax on the state pensions for all.