Or 'rebuking objectors'. Surely these headlines weren't ALL attention grabbing half truths? Well it seems most were. I wondered why the howling 'granny tax' banshees went silent (and not just because Cruddasgate came along). It seems 'the freezing of the Age Related Allowance to bring it into line with non-pensioners tax allowances means'... ...'most pensioners will still be better off as a result of all the changes the government are making'.
Although HMRC workings show that nearly four and a half million people will lose about £1.50 a week with one hand (yes, that's what the furore was over) they gain far more with the other hand: paraphrasing Chris Heaton-Harris on daventrycalling: 'nobody will have cash taken away from them...over 5 million of the poorest pensioners are completely unaffected...half of those over 65 will pay no tax at all next year...and thanks to the 'triple lock' guarantee, the basic state pension is rising by 5.2% this year, a record £275.60 per year increase' (the largest annual increase since the state pension was introduced).
"The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said that pensioners were the group least affected by changes to tax and benefits in the Budget. By the time of the next election, this government will have raised the state pensions by 43%. That is an unprecedented rise, and is far more than most working people can expect their incomes to rise by over the same period."
Update, Wednesday 28th: maybe Ann Widdicombe reads Owsblog!
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