…they shouldn’t be expected to pay.
Britain should stop giving the state pension to the rich and instead spend the money on benefits for the poor, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The Paris-based thinktank said that ending payments to the wealthiest 5% to 10% would allow the government to give more to people in greater need of support.
Wow! Seriously, wow! So, having paid in, they can expect nothing back.
Under the current system, anyone who has paid national insurance for 30 years is eligible for the state pension, regardless of wealth.
Precisely. That’s the point of national insurance. At least, that’s what it should have been, rather than the Ponzi scheme that it has become. So, if the rich (define rich) are to be excluded from the benefits of such insurance, they should be exempt from paying the NI contributions and those who have should have them all refunded. Anything else is theft.
So if they didn’t pay a pension to the top 10% that would mean the rest of us would get an extra 11% added to the state pension.
If we have an occupational pension as well then this extra income would push more of that into the 20% tax band, so really our rise would only be worth 8%.
Meanwhile those 10%-ers would lose their £6.4k at the ‘bottom’ of their pile causing the same amount to fall out of the 45% tax bracket, losing £2.8k to the Treasury. That means that cutting the pension for the top 10% only cuts 5.5%, just leaving us plebs with an extra 6% to get taxed at 20%!
Seems a lot of trouble for very little.
It makes sod all difference whether you’re rich and don’t need the pension or poor and you do need it. The point is that you paid into it, and if you paid into you are entitled to reap its benefits. Endov.
Agreed and am glad it’s so.
There are those who are suggesting that access to the NHS should be limited to only those who the righteous deem worthy of receiving treatment. Doesn’t matter how much you paid in mate, if you smoke or we have decided that your BMI is too high you can sling your hook.