Labour will adopt Rishi Sunak’s triple lock plus policy in office. It needs to have a more honest conversation about tax now, or it will not have a mandate for the things it will inevitably need to do
You say that "The Conservative government will have known about the collision of the triple lock and frozen personal allowances for years." One reason they ought to have known is that I have been questioning Government ministers about the growing problem for the last three years. Unfortunately, as far as it was possible to tell, they showed no understanding of the issue, let alone any intention to do anything about it.
The problem is compounded by the exclusion of State pensions from the PAYE system. This means that when income tax is payable on the State pension it must be deducted from the recipient's other sources of income, such as an occupational pension, by an adjustment to the relevant code. There is a 50% limit on the effective tax rate, so, if this doesn't provide enough tax, the individual receives a brown envelope, in the following tax year, asking for what's still due as a lump sum.
This is already a problem as both the 50% tax rate and the brown envelope usually come as a shock to the individuals involved. With the frozen tax allowances this will happen more and more.
You say that "The Conservative government will have known about the collision of the triple lock and frozen personal allowances for years." One reason they ought to have known is that I have been questioning Government ministers about the growing problem for the last three years. Unfortunately, as far as it was possible to tell, they showed no understanding of the issue, let alone any intention to do anything about it.
The problem is compounded by the exclusion of State pensions from the PAYE system. This means that when income tax is payable on the State pension it must be deducted from the recipient's other sources of income, such as an occupational pension, by an adjustment to the relevant code. There is a 50% limit on the effective tax rate, so, if this doesn't provide enough tax, the individual receives a brown envelope, in the following tax year, asking for what's still due as a lump sum.
This is already a problem as both the 50% tax rate and the brown envelope usually come as a shock to the individuals involved. With the frozen tax allowances this will happen more and more.
Thanks Bryn maybe I'm overestimating them! But I'm sure Treasury will have been aware. Excellent point about PAYE - I'll add that in