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Work until you're 71? What's the alternative?

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    goldongoldon Member Posts: 8,530
    Misconception Pensioners don't pay Tax. I've been taxed on my second pension for years and everything pensioners spend money on is taxed also.
    When you scrimp & scrap through life nothing changes in retirement only gets worse.
    Hoarding, stashing cash in drawers all hobbies for old people I'm enjoying it. Hic!

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    HAYSIEHAYSIE Member Posts: 32,365
    Essexphil said:

    There are always 2 sides to these coins.

    I wouldnt argue with that.

    "Double the amount of pensioners paying tax"? Twice as many pensioners receiving sufficient income to pay.

    Obviously.

    "Millenials will be better off in retirement". Only if the generation above them is successful in passing on its vast, unprecedented, collective wealth. Main problem being the 100% tax rate applied to people in Care Homes

    I agree.
    Although this seems to be a problem that nobody wishes to resolve.


    "Cut in NI will not help pensioners". Only because retired pensioners, unlike everyone else, don't pay NI to start with. Do you want to pay less than 0%?

    I think you are missing the point.

    Your thread title sums it up. Why is it "perverse" that part of a pensioner's income is treated the same for tax purposes as people who are working? That, for example, people who no longer have a Mortgage or Dependant kids gets to keep more of their money than a 30-year-old with 2 kids and a Mortgage? On Income Tax on top of NI? With a £1 million IHT tax break?

    I am not sure if it perverse, but I cant argue with any of the extracts from that article below.
    I am sure that some pensioners still have a mortgage, and some help their kids financially.
    Many pensioners surely thought that reaching pension age would have been a well deserved break, after working and contributing for their whole lives.

    Jon Greer, head of retirement policy at Quilter, warned: “There will no doubt be a considerable number of pensioners who have additional retirement income dragged into paying tax.

    “What’s more, the reality is that we are soon set to be in the perverse situation where pensioners might have to start paying back their state pension to HMRC because of frozen allowances.”

    He added: “Given that state pensions will shortly eradicate someone’s personal allowance, any private pension provision other than the tax-free cash lump sum will therefore become taxable at their highest marginal rate.

    “For many that could mean big tax bills depending on how much they draw down.

    “Pensioners are often worst hit by frozen tax allowances because they typically will be getting their income from a number of different investments and therefore lean heavily on CGT and dividend allowances to help create a retirement income in addition to their pension.


    Finally, the "grey vote". It always comes back to the grey vote. Which always seems to revolve solely around what is best for Pensioners.

    Why wouldnt it?

    Look at the state this country is in. I'm not a great fan of the USA, but 1 thing I have always liked is the "American Dream". The part that says we should be better off than our Parents were, and that our Kids should be better off than we are.

    My kids are certainly better off than me.

    I look at the World my kids are in, and I see a World that is considerably less attractive. Unable to buy houses for, on average, an extra Decade. Less attractive Pensions. Far less secure jobs. Waiting for their Parents to die, and preferably not contracting life limiting conditions that necessitate Care Homes, so they can have wealth.

    I'm 61. Do I care that, say, a 71 year old gets more tax breaks than me? No.

    You might when you are a bit older.

    I do care that today's pensioners are being subsidised by today's workers. Who are, on average, considerably less well off than you or me.

    This is a difficult one.
    Apparently the average earnings in the UK is over £35k per year, or £682 per week.
    It is very hard to do a comparison, but in my first job, I earned £8 per week.


    I spent most of my working life in sales.
    The first 20 years as a self employed agent.
    HMRC have pretty much outlawed this, and the vast majority of todays sales people will be employed.
    This can only be a good thing.
    My kids will definitely be better off in retirement than me.
    They will also inherit far more than I did, assuming no disasters.

    I wasnt arguing any of this.
    I will again repeat myself.
    Freezing personal allowances affects pensioners, and low earners.
    I will stick to pensioners.
    The £12,570 personal allowance was in place in 2021.
    The UK government introduced the state pension triple lock in 2010 in a bid to safeguard pensioners against the risk that the real value of the pension they received would be eroded by inflation. In effect, it’s a guarantee that pension payments will keep pace with inflation.

    So they put the triple lock in place as a protection, and then froze the personal allowance.
    The effect this will have is that I will shortly pay increasing amounts of tax on my state pension.
    The effect it has already had is that I have paid increasing amounts of tax on my additional income.

    I am not sure if we should consider this to be fair, unfair, or perverse, but surely it would be better to increase the personal allowance with inflation, and stop the triple lock.

    Has any generation in the past, ever paid income tax on their state pension?

    It seems they plan to have another cut in NI.
    This is being seen as some sort of redress for the highest tax rates in 70 years.
    Pensioners dont pay NI, so it is of no assistance to them.
    More importantly most people will associate NI contributions with the state pension.
    So on the one hand, the state pension scheme is in trouble, and the pension age is regularly being increased, on the other hand they keep cutting NI contributions.
    If I was a youngster today, I would probably vote to pay a little more, rather than less, and get my state pension earlier.
    Maybe one of them should put in their manifesto, that they intend to halve NI contributions, and you have to work until you are 95, and see how well that went down.
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    EssexphilEssexphil Member Posts: 8,067
    edited March 5
    1 of the major differences is that you believe far more in what the Press says than I do.

    It is most unlikely that there will ever be tax payable on the basic state pension. Not because Governments-any Governments-are kind. But because that would cause an enormous amount of paperwork, which would entirely negate any gains made from taxing it.

    Will Pensioners with additional private pensions be increasingly subject to tax? Yes. Will people in receipt of just the State Pension be taxed? No. That will remain as, at worst, the entire zero rate band.

    All political parties continue to do what is best for their short-term futures. At the expense of the entire nation's long term future.

    That is why no-one dares touch the triple lock. Despite the fact that it is unaffordable. Why Final Salary Schemes continue for Civil Servants and MPs-despite the fact that we cannot afford them. They have almost entirely disappeared from the Private Sector. Simply because they are unaffordable. Unless, of course, you are spending someone else's money.

    You mention that it would be better to abandon the triple lock and ensure Allowances keep pace with inflation. The trouble is that this would benefit wealthier Pensioners. At the expense of poorer ones. Speaking selfishly, that would suit me going forward. It's just that I don't just think what is best for me.

    I know you keep making the same point. But it is not quite true. When you say that the freezing of pensions adversely affects the poor, that is just not true. It affects the better off pensioners-the poor did not, and do not, pay income tax. Simply because they do not receive enough to pay tax.
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    HAYSIEHAYSIE Member Posts: 32,365
    edited March 6
    Essexphil said:

    1 of the major differences is that you believe far more in what the Press says than I do.

    It is most unlikely that there will ever be tax payable on the basic state pension. Not because Governments-any Governments-are kind. But because that would cause an enormous amount of paperwork, which would entirely negate any gains made from taxing it.

    I dont have to believe the press.
    My pension from next month is £12,272 per annum.


    Will Pensioners with additional private pensions be increasingly subject to tax? Yes. Will people in receipt of just the State Pension be taxed? No. That will remain as, at worst, the entire zero rate band.

    All political parties continue to do what is best for their short-term futures. At the expense of the entire nation's long term future.

    That is why no-one dares touch the triple lock. Despite the fact that it is unaffordable. Why Final Salary Schemes continue for Civil Servants and MPs-despite the fact that we cannot afford them. They have almost entirely disappeared from the Private Sector. Simply because they are unaffordable. Unless, of course, you are spending someone else's money.

    You mention that it would be better to abandon the triple lock and ensure Allowances keep pace with inflation. The trouble is that this would benefit wealthier Pensioners. At the expense of poorer ones. Speaking selfishly, that would suit me going forward. It's just that I don't just think what is best for me.

    I know you keep making the same point. But it is not quite true. When you say that the freezing of pensions adversely affects the poor, that is just not true. It affects the better off pensioners-the poor did not, and do not, pay income tax. Simply because they do not receive enough to pay tax.

    I did not say that.
    I said that the freezing of the personal allowance affects pensioners, and people on low incomes.
    Pensioners because once the state pension exceeds the tax threshold they will pay tax on it.
    Low earners because as their earnings rise they will become liable for income tax, where they werent before.

    I appreciate the increases due to the triple lock, but dont see the point of having the triple lock, and freezing the personal allowance.

    I currently have less than £300 in hand.
    The income tax threshold is apparently frozen until 2028/29.


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    HAYSIEHAYSIE Member Posts: 32,365
    edited March 6
    Essexphil said:

    1 of the major differences is that you believe far more in what the Press says than I do.

    It is most unlikely that there will ever be tax payable on the basic state pension. Not because Governments-any Governments-are kind. But because that would cause an enormous amount of paperwork, which would entirely negate any gains made from taxing it.

    Will Pensioners with additional private pensions be increasingly subject to tax? Yes. Will people in receipt of just the State Pension be taxed? No. That will remain as, at worst, the entire zero rate band.

    All political parties continue to do what is best for their short-term futures. At the expense of the entire nation's long term future.

    That is why no-one dares touch the triple lock. Despite the fact that it is unaffordable. Why Final Salary Schemes continue for Civil Servants and MPs-despite the fact that we cannot afford them. They have almost entirely disappeared from the Private Sector. Simply because they are unaffordable. Unless, of course, you are spending someone else's money.

    You mention that it would be better to abandon the triple lock and ensure Allowances keep pace with inflation. The trouble is that this would benefit wealthier Pensioners. At the expense of poorer ones. Speaking selfishly, that would suit me going forward. It's just that I don't just think what is best for me.

    I know you keep making the same point. But it is not quite true. When you say that the freezing of pensions adversely affects the poor, that is just not true. It affects the better off pensioners-the poor did not, and do not, pay income tax. Simply because they do not receive enough to pay tax.

    I wasnt thinking about what is best for me, and I dont think that other people should become worse off just to benefit me, I was merely making a point.
    Perhaps I wasnt being very clear.
    I am certain that many people will be in a similar position to me.

    This is my point.
    The personal allowance was frozen in 2021.
    The original plan was to freeze it until 2026.
    In last years Autumn statement this was extended until 2027/28.
    In 2021 the state pension was increased by £229, to £179.60 per week.
    In 2022 the increase was £289, taking it up to £185.15 per week.

    So if you were in a similar position to me, and had some additional income, the state pension rate would have allowed you to receive around £3.5k of this tax free in 2021.
    This bit of tax free money will been gradually eroded from 2021, increasing my tax bill, each year.
    By next year the £3.5k will have been wiped out, and a minimal amount of tax will be payable on the state pension.
    Losing the £3.5k tax free, will make me, and those in a similar position, £700 worse off per year, while the personal allowance remains frozen.
    This actually wipes out both the 2021, and 2022 increases, as well as a bit of the 2023 increase.
    Assuming the powers that be stick to the plan to freeze the personal allowance until 2028/29, then an increasing amount of tax will be payable on the state pension alone, in addition to the lost £700.

    Thats it.
    That was my point.
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    goldongoldon Member Posts: 8,530
    Triple Lock..... they give with one hand ......tax with the other......

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    EssexphilEssexphil Member Posts: 8,067
    I understand your point.

    But you are switching your pensions/income round from their normal order.

    The State Pension is the first income for tax purposes, and thus that is (and will likely remain) utilising some or all of the Nil Rate Band. Your tax is levied on your additional income.

    All this guff about personal tax allowances being frozen until 2027 is just that-guff. It is not for this Government to provide a fiscal straitjacket for the next one. The next Government will not allow the State Pension to create tax on its own.

    So the Tax Burden for better-off Pensioners is increasing. But not for the poorer ones.

    A marginal tax rate of less than 100% will never "wipe out" any increase.

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    HAYSIEHAYSIE Member Posts: 32,365
    Essexphil said:

    I understand your point.

    You dont seem to.

    But you are switching your pensions/income round from their normal order.

    I am not.

    The State Pension is the first income for tax purposes, and thus that is (and will likely remain) utilising some or all of the Nil Rate Band. Your tax is levied on your additional income.

    I understand that.
    The point I was making was that when the state pension was around 9k per year, it left you around 3.5k of your personal allowance that was allowed against your additional income.
    Had the personal allowance increased with inflation, that would have remained to be the case.
    It hasnt.
    Each year since the person allowance has been frozen, the 3.5k has been eroded, and taxable income has increased.
    By next year the state pension will have exceeded the personal allowance.
    So the 3.5k has completely disappeared.


    All this guff about personal tax allowances being frozen until 2027 is just that-guff. It is not for this Government to provide a fiscal straitjacket for the next one. The next Government will not allow the State Pension to create tax on its own.

    They only extended the freeze a couple of months ago.
    Assuming Labour get in, they will have to find the funds for unfreezing it.
    Good luck with that.


    So the Tax Burden for better-off Pensioners is increasing. But not for the poorer ones.

    That is assuming your assumptions are correct.
    If not the poorer ones will become more poorer.


    A marginal tax rate of less than 100% will never "wipe out" any increase.

    It did.

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    EnutEnut Member Posts: 3,282
    Since its introduction in 2011, the triple lock on the state pension has increased its value and the cost to the government of providing it. State financial support to pensioners is now greater as a result of the triple lock. Had the value of the state pension grown in line with either prices or earnings since 2011, it would now be around 11% lower than it is – a full new state pension would be worth around £180 per week, compared with the actual current amount of £204 per week, rising to £221.20 per week next month. Compared with if the state pension had risen in line with prices or earnings, the government now spends an additional £11 billion per year on state pensions as a result of the triple lock, with that spending increasing again in April.

    Think yourself lucky @HAYSIE, as well as receiving increases far above most people's wage increases in the last few years and not losing anything during the COVID lockdowns, for example, you are only potentially paying 20% tax on the additional income that these increases lead to being over your tax allowance. I spoke to a retired GP the other day and his state pension will put his total income above the £100,000 threshold and that will result in him losing his personal allowance at a rate of £1 for every £2 he exceeds £100K, until he loses it completely at £125,140. As a result he will pay an effective tax rate of 60% on that portion of his income! You see even having an NHS pension of £100,000 per annum has some drawbacks! Although he admits that it's not a bad problem to have in the grand scheme of things.

    When I started in the financial advice business anyone trying to exist on a basic state pension was probably really struggling, nowadays a married couple with two full state pensions will be effectively being paid £1,917 per month from next month. That's equivalent to a gross employed income of just under £28,000 per annum, assuming they have absolutely no other retirement provisions.
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    HAYSIEHAYSIE Member Posts: 32,365
    edited March 6
    Enut said:

    Since its introduction in 2011, the triple lock on the state pension has increased its value and the cost to the government of providing it. State financial support to pensioners is now greater as a result of the triple lock. Had the value of the state pension grown in line with either prices or earnings since 2011, it would now be around 11% lower than it is – a full new state pension would be worth around £180 per week, compared with the actual current amount of £204 per week, rising to £221.20 per week next month. Compared with if the state pension had risen in line with prices or earnings, the government now spends an additional £11 billion per year on state pensions as a result of the triple lock, with that spending increasing again in April.

    Think yourself lucky @HAYSIE, as well as receiving increases far above most people's wage increases in the last few years and not losing anything during the COVID lockdowns, for example, you are only potentially paying 20% tax on the additional income that these increases lead to being over your tax allowance. I spoke to a retired GP the other day and his state pension will put his total income above the £100,000 threshold and that will result in him losing his personal allowance at a rate of £1 for every £2 he exceeds £100K, until he loses it completely at £125,140. As a result he will pay an effective tax rate of 60% on that portion of his income! You see even having an NHS pension of £100,000 per annum has some drawbacks! Although he admits that it's not a bad problem to have in the grand scheme of things.

    When I started in the financial advice business anyone trying to exist on a basic state pension was probably really struggling, nowadays a married couple with two full state pensions will be effectively being paid £1,917 per month from next month. That's equivalent to a gross employed income of just under £28,000 per annum, assuming they have absolutely no other retirement provisions.

    I am not complaining about the state pension.
    Or the increases.
    I agree that the state pension for a married couple seems adequate.
    Assuming they have both paid enough stamps.
    Although a long way behind average earnings.
    On the other hand if you were single, or a widow/widower, even if you had paid all your stamps, you might be struggling, if you were relying on the state pension alone.

    I was merely pointing out that the freezing of the personal allowance, has caused people in my position to pay more tax on any additional income, which has offset some of the increases.
    If you deduct £700 per year from the increases, it is not such a good picture.
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    goldongoldon Member Posts: 8,530
    Ex-miners left to die in abject poverty as pensions raided, say campaigners
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    HAYSIEHAYSIE Member Posts: 32,365
    edited March 7
    Essexphil said:

    I understand your point.

    But you are switching your pensions/income round from their normal order.

    The State Pension is the first income for tax purposes, and thus that is (and will likely remain) utilising some or all of the Nil Rate Band. Your tax is levied on your additional income.

    All this guff about personal tax allowances being frozen until 2027 is just that-guff. It is not for this Government to provide a fiscal straitjacket for the next one. The next Government will not allow the State Pension to create tax on its own.

    So the Tax Burden for better-off Pensioners is increasing. But not for the poorer ones.

    A marginal tax rate of less than 100% will never "wipe out" any increase.

    Pensioners are left out of Jeremy Hunt's tax cuts and face rises of £960 as he targets the young in his budget



    Pensioners have been left out of the Chancellor's round of tax cuts for a second time in six months after the Government snubbed its core voting base ahead of the General Election.

    Eight million pensioners who already face average tax rises of £960 as a result of the Government's stealth freezes on tax thresholds were left empty-handed in the giveaways announced yesterday.

    Jeremy Hunt's 2p cut in National Insurance will see more than 12.6million pensioners who do not pay the levy missing out on £450 of personal taxation giveaways for a second time in two months.

    That is despite the fact that pensioners who draw income from their private and workplace pensions are paying more tax than previous retired generations as a result of stealth taxes.
    Personal taxes will rise by a net £20billion a year by 2029, despite the recent round of cuts, the Resolution Foundation think-tank says.

    Torsten Bell, its chief executive, said: 'The biggest choice Jeremy Hunt made was to cut taxes for younger workers while allowing taxes to rise for eight million pensioners – a staggering reversal of the approach taken by Conservative governments since 2010.'

    Retirees are disproportionately likely to vote Conservative. In the last election, 67 per cent of over-70s voted Tory, compared with 21 per cent of those aged 18 to 24.


    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/pensioners-are-left-out-of-jeremy-hunt-s-tax-cuts-and-face-rises-of-960-as-he-targets-the-young-in-his-budget/ar-BB1jrSMB?ocid=msedgntp&pc=NMTS&cvid=c52edbce7c38403798fe3f66547f7d78&ei=18
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    HAYSIEHAYSIE Member Posts: 32,365
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    HAYSIEHAYSIE Member Posts: 32,365
    Pensioners who pay income tax to lose £1,000 each after Jeremy Hunt’s budget


    https://uk.yahoo.com/finance/news/pensioners-income-tax-lose-spring-budget-121045597.html
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    HAYSIEHAYSIE Member Posts: 32,365
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    HAYSIEHAYSIE Member Posts: 32,365
    Essexphil said:

    I understand your point.

    But you are switching your pensions/income round from their normal order.

    The State Pension is the first income for tax purposes, and thus that is (and will likely remain) utilising some or all of the Nil Rate Band. Your tax is levied on your additional income.

    All this guff about personal tax allowances being frozen until 2027 is just that-guff. It is not for this Government to provide a fiscal straitjacket for the next one. The next Government will not allow the State Pension to create tax on its own.

    So the Tax Burden for better-off Pensioners is increasing. But not for the poorer ones.

    A marginal tax rate of less than 100% will never "wipe out" any increase.

    This was presumably a consideration when this government recently extended the frozen period from 2026 to April 2028.
    I cant believe that they just forgot about pensions, when they did it.
    I appreciate that Labour look certain to win the next general election, but I keep waiting for something to happen.
    Labour have promised no unfunded tax cuts.
    I dont think they will have the funds to immediately undo all the Tory financial mess.
    So maybe they will just blame the Tories, leave this policy in place, and be glad of the 2028 deadline.
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