To be annoyed pensioners effectively now get a bigger personal allowance

[FlightBeforeXmas]

So because of the fiscal drag from not increasing personal allowances the chancellor has announced basic state pension will not be taxable.
So if you earn this amount you pay tax on it despite having the extra costs of working.
Pensioners are also much more like to own their homes.
How on earth does this make any sense?

Pensioners have worked all their days, paid taxes, and paid for their pension through NI contributions. Not their fault governments have failed to put money aside for this. Why should they now be taxed. Get real yabu

I had a car and a holiday and my family certainly were not wealthy - or anywhere near it. Most of my friends did- and their families weren’t wealthy either. We were the children of steelworkers with mothers who worked part time in shops.

You don't pay tax on the state pension but if you earn above the personal allowance then you'll pay tax on that.
My DH has a small private pension and that is where the tax is deducted from.

I tried to find something about it but it doesn't seem to be anywhere, It was only mentioned very briefly in the budget and not very clear. Maybe Martin Lewis will have a bit about it as it's the type of thing he explains.

No, you won't if it's wages either. Workers don't pay tax on the first £12570 of their salary income either, exactly the same as pensioners.

Everyone has a personal allowance of £12,570. Only income above that (wages and / or pension income) is taxed.

I was part of the working population for 45yrs,no free child care,no breakfast club or after school club.Did I complain about pensioners NO.This pensioner bashing has to stop we are not to blame for all the ills in this country but it seems we are an easy target.

I don't think anyone on £13,000 a year should pay tax. But if the government thinks they should, I don't understand why it would be levied or not on the basis of age.

That is categorically not true.

It does have to stop. A pensioner on a single state pension isn't the problem.

The problem is the pensioners in Spain/Pakistan on a Spain/Pakistaan. state pension *and" British state pension or the Spanish/Pakistani migrants here on a double pension. Just using them as example countries.

We are paying unnecessary pensions.

The basic state pension has never been taxed because it falls below the tax allowance,which is the same allowance for working people.Pensioners have always paid tax on extra income such as work place pension.

Ha, yeah right!

OK. No NMW, no flexible working, no free child care, yes, my house was cheaper than now, but no mobile phones, rented TV, twin tub washing machine, crappy 20 year old car. No takeaways, holidays were camping in Cornwall.

You REALLY want that lifestyle?

Young people don't understand how cheap items are now they are mass produced. Pensioners now, paid more in the 80s for clothes than you do now.

Oh look. Another whinging thread blaming pensioners for everything. Won’t be happy until every one of them is destitute and living on bread and gruel will you. The spiteful, nasty bitterness inside some of you will fester and fester until it manifests as cancer or something.

@AutumnLeavesandKnittedJumpers

I receive a state pension. I have no private pension. I have some income from interest on non ISA savings.

I am of the age group that does not get the higher new flat-rate state pension and I receive less than £11,000 pa.

Because my income from my state pension plus the income from interest on the non ISA savings is less than £12,570 plus the £1000 personal savings allowance that everyone gets I do not currently pay tax.

My husband was self-employed. His state pension is less than mine but he also has a small private pension to supplement his state pension. He also has some income from interest on non ISA savings. He also earns a small amount per annum as a writer.

He is taxed on the following:

the total of his state pension + his private pension + his income from interest on savings + his earnings (which fluctuate from year to year).

His state pension counts towards his total earnings. He pays his tax via self-assessment and uses an accountant to work out his tax liability ,which he pays annually.

Can you not understand that for those pensioners whose total income from state pension + any private pension + any interest on non ISA savings + any income from employment is taxable above the threshold of £12,570 and that this is not going to change?

He pays tax at the same rate that you do.

I know. Sorry if that wasn't clear. I didn't mean it was a new thing.

And many pensioners have some degree of cognitive decline, and filling in a Self Assessment tax form would be stressful and beyond their abilities.

Of all the weird things pensioners want adulation for, the weirdest is that they want to be praised for their incredible self-restraint in not purchasing tech that didn't yet exist. I don't consider myself massively prudent because I don't waste my money on hoverboards...

You sound very delusional and bitter.Focusing all that hate on one group of people is very concerning.

And to be clear. (looking at 2026 rates)

Someone on national minimum wage would work 18.985 hours per week before paying tax. Anyone on nmw working more hours would pay tax on the additional amount.

A pensioner could receive the state pension free of tax. Anyone with other income (private pension, interest on investments, income from rental property) would pay tax on the additional amount. This is already collected through the current systems.

All very fair.

The only change is that if the personal allowance does not increase, and the state pension increases beyond that, then pensioners who only have the state pension will not be taxed on the additional amount. In general these will be people who do not own their own homes, they may well be in receipt of pension credit and may have support to pay their rent. Why tax them?

The easiest way to deduct tax if the state pension exceeds the personal allowance would be to pay it net. Job done.

OAPs in other countries get far more than UK. We paid tax NI. It's our due every little helps.
What the Chancellor should have done would be to tax the very rich millionaires billionaires which would give 24 billion a year for essentials like public services no sense not to.

Job not done because it would not take into account any other sources of income on a year by year basis which would not be known to the DWP. So an assessment system would still needed.

That would require a massive change to the DWP computer systems to allow them to deduct tax. That alone may cost more than the tax that could be collected

It’s also easy when you don’t have to do it and you know nothing about it.

Or stop giving the pensioners from other countries a British state penion on top of the one from their homeland?