PENSIONERS PAYING INCOME TAX

[KVDM]

I am aware that this post will probably anger some pensioners but I feel it has to be said.  So here goes.  If you are one of the lucky ones and have managed to amass a better pension either by putting off your state pension or by having a private pension you will have to pay income tax on the amount over your personal allowance.  If you take your pension early then that will be any amount over the p a of around £7K.  Once you reach 65 personal allowance goes to just under 10K.  However, if you have struggled and squirrelled and managed to make your pension reasonable - let's say over 22K per annum the government then reduces your personal allowance on a 2-1 basis.  So if you are getting 23K you personal allowance will be reduced by £500 and you will pay tax on that amount.
 
This makes me extremely angry because for anyone to achieve a better pension in the normal world and I am not talking banking it means a lot of scrimping and saving has been done only to find yourself punished by the goverment in later life.  If however, you are on state benefits you can have an income of 26k without batting an eyelid.  Lastly if you have a million pound house but find yourself without cash the Government, i.e. us including pensioners forced to pay tax will then pay your council tax and other benefits without you having to sacrifice any of the value of your house.  Same applies if you've been on the dole for years and your house has whacked up in value.  You then sell the house and pocket the cash although we have all paid your dole money for years.  Lastly on today's rant if you are a pensioner who has managed to achieve a better pension you will not be entitled to any of the above benefits. Plus, although I am not 100% sure on this your partner if you are not married won't be entitled to any pension credits etc as you are earning too much!  Hello - how come pensioners who have paid into the British system all their lives are getting shafted like this.   Our votes count as we actually vote and the Government is much more scared of us oldies so what can we do about this matter and anything else and how?

[Rita Postlethwaite]

You are quite right KVDM. I have just had a tax demand for sixty pounds because I am fractionally over the pathetic tax allowance figure! This is because my husband and I not only managed to pay off our mortgage early but also take out a small (and now utterly useless) pension by going without things like holidays abroad etc. I remember the political parties, when requiring our votes, stating that they would make £10,000 the starting figure for paying tax (hardly a vast sum by todays standards) but like everything else it was revoked as soon as they had their votes.  

[Dottie1943]

Like you both I have a small private pension which I pay tax on monthly and had to fill out the tax form by the dreaded 31st January, well my very good friend who is an accountant did it for me, and wow and behold I got a £26.00 tax rebate

But I am still not getting as much as those on benefits and still have to pay for the dentist etc so am worse off then those who are.

[avalonmpk2]

All I can say on this matter is I find myself in the same situation with only one consolation We can hold our heads up high.

[GADZY]

Avalon
I'm in the same boat as you But i do hate paying twice on my savings and investments.

[Dottie1943]

I quiet agree I always feel as though I am being mugged when the taxman takes his bit from my private pension and savings interest!

[GADZY]

Yes Dottie
Mugged is a very apt word to use. and i hate being taken for One.

[avalonmpk2]

Somebody has to support the workshy and scroungers to say nothing of lazy good for nothing politicians on the fiddle

[bromers]

Tax allowance for over 65s going up from £9,940 to £10,500 , for tax year 2012/2013.

[Papaumau]

As I see it, it has to be really simple for the government to be fair to pensioners like us:

All they have to do is ensure that once we reach state pension age we should not pay ANY income tax. That would also include all of those people who worked at a good enough - often stressful - job which paid a final-salary-based occupational pension or those that actually paid into a private pension, if they could afford to.

I think that the cut-off point should be around the £27-to-£30 thousand annual income after which a small tax-payment could be taken. This would ensure that the already-rich pensioners don't get excused from paying tax if they are still getting their new Citizen's Pension.

Of course any property that was come by over a lifetime of paying a mortgage should be exempt from being considered as actual wealth if it is worth less than say a million pounds. Over this I think that the proposed "Mansion Tax" could then be brought into effect.

What I am trying to get at here is a figure that every pensioner needs as a minimum so that they are not in poverty after a lifetime of work and paying their taxes.

[avalonmpk2]

Papa: How do you fund it? Everybody wants something and nobody wants to pay a realistic amount for it.

[Dottie1943]

Papai am with you on this one and in response to your question avalonmpk2 it could be self financing from the extra the rich chicks would be paying extra surely?

[avalonmpk2]

Define rich; If it is measured on property everyone who has paid off their mortgage is rich and those who have been prudent.
One way might be to Tax to the hilt Fast food outlets, Betting shops, chewing gum, pop concerts and sports arenas who overpay so-called sporting stars.
Not as at present people who have saved and made provision for their own retirement.

[Dottie1943]

The rich in my case is anybody who once retired still gets a pension of more than £45K PA

I don't worry about houses they live in and how much they are worth what I do worry about is people who get vast amounts of money in pensions from HM Government, or Banks which we own.

Good luck to them if they get this cash, but don't use the system to get out of paying taxes that you and I have to pay!

[Papaumau]

Papa: How do you fund it? Everybody wants something and nobody wants to pay a realistic amount for it.

Yeah Avalon, Dottie is right. The money IS there, it is just in the hands of the wrong people.

If there was a serious effort made to get the tax off those that avoid as well as evade paying it we would find that not only would the deficit be cut in half but there would be plenty of money left over to do justice to the poor pensioners of Britain.