BeeHive > BeeLines > 2008 > Apr > Taxing the Poor!
Taxing the Poor!
Well, here’s another one of those BeeLines where Ms Bruun has kindly resized and reformatted one of my recent ‘Pension Conversations’ cartoon strips (from Pensions Week magazine) so I can share it with you on the BeeHive. I know, where else do you get this kind of thoughtfulness? It’s because we’re nice people and nothing’s too much trouble for our band of BeeLiners.
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Pension Conversations, written and drawn by Steve Bee. First published in Pensions Week magazine, 2008 |  |
This strip is entitled ‘Taxing the Poor’ and I drew it up following the recent Budget statement. It concerns the reduction in the basic rate of tax from twenty-two pence in the pound to just twenty pence that will take effect next Sunday. It’s a cautionary tale really and it’s about how one man’s tax decrease can be another’s tax increase. It’s also, sadly, a practical example of how a ‘double-whammy’ can play out in real life when you consider the interaction of the tax system with the pension system.
I wrote about this on the BeeHive on the day of the Budget if you remember, and a few of you wrote in and said I was being a bit harsh in my judgement of the tax reduction and the corresponding loss of tax relief into some people’s pension pots. The point being made was something like “you can’t have it both ways” I suppose. Well I’ve given that a bit of thought since and I can’t stop myself thinking that the government could have been fairer to low-earners who are good enough to save for pensions and protected their tax relief in the same way the same Budget did for charities. So I guess I stand my ground on it, but let me know if you think I’m wrong...
1 April 2008
Source: HMRC website, Budget Notes 2008, 12 March 2008.
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