Labour is not the party of the working people. It is the party of the Islington set. So making life a living hell is right up their street.
The Labour leader refused to match Rishi Sunak’s promise to keep the poorest pensioners out of paying income tax.
It means at least two million struggling older people face having to fill out a self-assessment tax return every year for the rest of their life.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt told the Daily Express: “Millions of pensioners will be worse off under Labour’s Retirement Tax.
“For the first time in history, it will drag pensioners whose only income is the state pension into paying tax for the first time.
This doesn’t surprise me on little bit. They are scum. Starmer doesn’t care about people on the state pension, he is more concerned about getting sixteen year olds to vote to keep his vile party perpetually in power. Did I say they are scum?
I hate them. I hate them all.
This is make work.
One bunch of gubment employees dish out the dosh, a second bunch reclaim some of it, a third bunch take tax and national insurance from bunches one and two (and now bunch three and four.) Bunch four make sure that this is all done in a diverse, equitable, and inclusive way.
We are truly fucked.
I have been retired for four years now. I have just received my letter about the state pension and registered on line. Because my wife and I have a mixture of private and workplace pensions, we are going to have to be quite canny in order to minimise our tax bill. Am I being too smug if I point out that we might have been among the poorest pensioners if we hadn’t made our own provisions for our retirement? I know that circumstances don’t make it possible for everybody but I know at least one person who has worked all his life and never put anything by and will be completely dependent on the state pension if he retires.
No, you’re not being smug, you’ve just been prudent!
September 26 for my state pension. I’ll be 66, and intend (at reduced hours) going on until 67.
I have private pensions, savings and the ability to keep earning part time if I need to.
I also have a few acquaintances of the same approximate vintage who have not been so forward looking.
I seldom discuss retirement with them as accusations of smugness are thrown. Not directly, but it’s not too difficult to discern what people are thinking.
It’s the one thing I am not looking forward to about retirement, finding myself a lot better off than people I’ve knows for donkey’s years who up until then will have been at least my financial equals.
Hope it doesn’t make us fallout!
Rishi and Rhyming Slang were the ones who set up the conditions for those on the state pension to be dragged in to tax in the first place by freezing the tax thresholds. Promising to take them out of income tax is simply a cynical election ploy.