Skip to main content
The Actuary: The magazine of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries - return to the homepage Logo of The Actuary website
  • Search
  • Visit The Actuary Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit The Actuary Magazine on LinkedIn
  • Visit @TheActuaryMag on Twitter
Visit the website of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries Logo of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries

Main navigation

  • News
  • Features
    • General Features
    • Interviews
    • Students
    • Opinion
  • Topics
  • Knowledge
    • Business Skills
    • Careers
    • Events
    • Predictions by The Actuary
    • Whitepapers
    • Moody's - Climate Risk Insurers series
    • Webinars
    • Podcasts
  • Jobs
  • IFoA
    • CEO Comment
    • IFoA News
    • People & Social News
    • President Comment
  • Archive
Quick links:
  • Home
  • The Actuary Issues
  • March 2012
03

Pensioners should 'stop whinging' about 'Granny Tax'

Open-access content Friday 23rd March 2012 — updated 7.46pm, Wednesday 6th May 2020

Broadstone Pensions and Investments has said complaints from pensioners about Chancellor George Osborne's decision to freeze the personal allowance for over-65s next year are unjustified.

The announcement made in Wednesday's Budget drew a furious reaction from some quarters, with Saga director-general Dr Ros Altmann labelling it an ‘outrageous attack on decent middle-class pensioners’.

But John Broome Saunders, actuarial director at Broadstone said today: 'Frankly pensioners should stop whinging about this. Pensioners have enjoyed larger personal allowances for many years, and all the Chancellor has done is to extend these to everybody else.

'There was something perniciously ageist about a tax system that meant that a 70-year-old paid less income tax than a 50-year-old with identical income, and this decision goes some way to correct this.'

Mr Broome Saunders said that moves towards redistributing tax benefits in favour of working people were long overdue.

'Most current pensioners are the beneficiaries of final salary pension schemes that are providing them with pensions worth far more than originally anticipated, thanks to increasing life expectancy and lower interest rates. And they still benefit enormously from the fact that they are entirely exempt from National Insurance,' he said.

If plans to merge National Insurance with income tax went ahead, pensioners could be in for a 'much bigger shock', he added.

This article appeared in our March 2012 issue of The Actuary.
Click here to view this issue
Filed in
03
Topics
Investment

You might also like...

Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Latest Jobs

Catastrophe Modelling Analyst - London Market Broker

London, England
£40000 - £50000 per annum
Reference
145925

Senior Catastrophe Analyst

England, London
£65000 - £75000 per annum
Reference
145924

Life Actuary - Financial Reporting - Day Rate contract

Negotiable
Reference
145923
See all jobs »
 
 

Today's top reads

 
 

Sign up to our newsletter

News, jobs and updates

Sign up

Subscribe to The Actuary

Receive the print edition straight to your door

Subscribe
Spread-iPad-slantB-june.png

Topics

  • Data Science
  • Investment
  • Risk & ERM
  • Pensions
  • Environment
  • Soft skills
  • General Insurance
  • Regulation Standards
  • Health care
  • Technology
  • Reinsurance
  • Global
  • Life insurance
​
FOLLOW US
The Actuary on LinkedIn
@TheActuaryMag on Twitter
Facebook: The Actuary Magazine
CONTACT US
The Actuary
Tel: (+44) 020 7880 6200
​

IFoA

About IFoA
Become an actuary
IFoA Events
About membership

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy
Think Green

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to The Actuary Magazine
Contribute

The Actuary Jobs

Actuarial job search
Pensions jobs
General insurance jobs
Solvency II jobs

© 2023 The Actuary. The Actuary is published on behalf of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries by Redactive Publishing Limited. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ