Working people with average earnings would have to work for four
centuries before they would benefit from Jeremy Hunt’s £1 billion
tax cut, according to Office for National Statistics data.
The Chancellor announced a tax cut in his Budget for those with
more than £1.07 million in their pension pot. The abolition of
the lifetime allowance, along with the rising of the annual
allowance, cost the taxpayer £1 billion and will benefit the 1%
with the biggest pension pots.
The average person approaching retirement age has an average of
£107,000 in their pension funds according to the ONS, just
1/10th of the amount they would need to have to
benefit from the changes in the Budget. They would have to
continue working and saving for ten times as long as they had
before they would see a tax saving, roughly 400 years in total.
[1]
Prime Minister has been repeatedly asked
about the number of doctors who will benefit from the changes,
and refused to answer each time [2]. Labour have urged the
government to not go forward with the £1 billion tax cut and
instead introduce specific measures to keep doctors in
work.
Paul Johnson, Director of the IFS, said, “if the fundamental
problem it was trying to address was doctors, then it was a
rather large sledgehammer to crack a very small nut, and a
billion-pound sledgehammer at that.” [3].
, Labour Deputy
Leader, said:
“Someone starting out their career today would have to work until
the year 2423 before they’d see a penny from the Tories’ tax
giveaway to the top 1%.
“At a time when families across the country face rising bills,
higher taxes and frozen wages, this is the wrong priority at the
wrong time.
"This May voters face a choice, a choice between a Tory
government that has left people out of pocket during a cost of
living crisis and prioritised giving a £1 billion bung to the
richest 1%, or a Labour government that would put working people
first.
"That is what Labour will always do. Right now, a Labour
government would freeze council tax this year, funded by a proper
windfall tax on oil and gas giants to help ease the cost of
living crisis facing so many."
Ends
Notes
LABOUR’S PLAN TO CUT THE COST OF LIVING
Labour understands that times are tough and people need help now
to get through this cost of living crisis. That’s why a Labour
government would:
- Freeze your council tax for this year, funded by a proper
windfall tax on oil and gas giants. Under the Tories, council tax
bills are set to rise an average of 5%.
- Keep energy bills low for good by insulating 19 million
homes.
- Stop the Tory decision to hand the richest 1% of pension
savers £1 billion in the midst of a cost of living crisis, and
instead introduce specific measures to keep doctors in work.
- Close the non-dom tax loophole, so people who live and work
here pay their tax here, and use that money to fund the biggest
expansion of the NHS workforce in history and Breakfast Clubs at
every primary school.
- People aged 55-64 with pensions not yet in payment have an
average of £107,300 in their pension pot according to ONS data
(table 6.8)
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/datasets/pensionwealthwealthingreatbritain
- Reports suggest as few as 105
doctors will be impacted by the changes.
Doubts grow over number of
NHS doctors helped by pension giveaway | NHS | The Guardian
-
battling to justify pensions
giveaway to the top 1%
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/mar/16/jeremy-hunt-battling-to-justify-pensions-giveaway-to-the-top-1
