Fiscal austerity: Next stop: Pensions

As the austerity measures continue, the next stop is the pensions tax relief being significantly reduced. It has been cut from £250,000 to £50,000 a year of tax-free saving (although 3 years allowances may be carried forward for a lump-sum investment). The predictaion is this will affect around 100,000 high earning pensioners only. Furthermore, there is now a maximum of £1.5 bn that can be tax-free over a lifetime.

The Treasury forecasts this will raise £4 bn a year, to reduce the fiscal deficit. Although Ronnie Ludwig, a partner at Saffery Champness, said the new policy would discriminate against entrepreneurs. “Because it is based on the model of regular income and regular pension contributions, it effectively discriminates against the self-employed or small business owners whose income patterns are more uneven,” he said.
More here…

Investment in Energy Infrastructure [23 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Cyclical and Structural Economic Issues Facing the UK [23 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Evaluation on Supply-Side Policies [21 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: The Current Account of the Balance of Payments [20 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Migration and the UK Economy [20 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Positive and Negative Multiplier Effects [20 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: The Importance of Productivity [20 May 2012]
Q&A: What do we need to know about output gaps? [20 May 2012]
Revision notes on unemployment [20 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Government Spending [11 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Revision Notes on Supply-side Policies [10 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Model answer for revision data question [9 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Growth and Development Glossary [5 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Trade and Balance of Payments Glossary [5 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Economic Cycle Glossary [5 May 2012]
Macro Revision - Key Statistics on the UK Economy [4 May 2012]
Robert Schiller - Finance and the Good Society [1 May 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Using the Cost-Benefit Principle [30 Apr 2012]
Macro Revision: Putting Things in Context [29 Apr 2012]
Tullow Oil and African Development [25 Apr 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Heathow’s Capacity and Connectivity Crunch [22 Apr 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Skills Shortages Hold Back Recovery [12 Apr 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Revision on Interest Rates and the Exchange Rate [3 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: The Collapsing Price of Carbon [3 Apr 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Pain in Spain as Fiscal Austerity Bites [1 Apr 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Revision on Capital Investment [30 Mar 2012]
Intergenerational Equity - Fairness and the Slump [28 Mar 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Policies to Drive Economic Recovery [9 Mar 2012]
Adapt or Die - Lord Bilimoria and the Cobra Story [4 Mar 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Sovereign Wealth Funds [4 Mar 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: The Dash for Gas in Mozambique [17 Feb 2012]
A return to Glass-Steagall to prevent another crash? A lesson from economic history. [17 Feb 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Is the UK Economy Turning a Corner? [15 Feb 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: King on the UK Economy [15 Feb 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Focus on India - Comparative Advantage [27 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Focus on China - Trade and Growth [27 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Focus on India - Supply Side Issues [25 Jan 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Can the UK Computer Games Industry Grow [24 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Money, Debt and the New World Order [22 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Russia Joins the WTO [22 Jan 2012]
Unit 3 Micro: World’s Largest Solar Plant Opens [15 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Frontier Markets - the New BRICS? [15 Jan 2012]
Beyond the Bike - The Importance of Remittances [15 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Time to Re-Boot the British Economy [14 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Economics of Fiscal Deficit Reduction [12 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Competitive Advantage in Trade (Some Videos) [12 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Factors Driving Business Investment [10 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Natural Disasters and their Economic Impact [7 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: The UK Housing Market in 2011 [26 Dec 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Brazil Overtakes UK in Economic Size [26 Dec 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Sub Normal Profits - BP Leaves the Solar Industry [21 Dec 2011]
Economic Corruption - Global Rankings for 2011 [19 Dec 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Mobile Phones and African Economic Growth [18 Dec 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: The Rise in Self Employment [17 Dec 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Does UK Manufacturing have a Future? [30 Nov 2011]
Pensions - public sector vs private sector [30 Nov 2011]
Where is the UK Economy? National Output [22 Nov 2011]
AS Macro: The State of British Business [13 Nov 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Richard Florida on the Great Reset [5 Nov 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Costs and Benefits of a Super Sewer for London [1 Nov 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Google Maps to Charge for Usage [31 Oct 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Economic Importance of Investment [19 Oct 2011]
Keynes Prize: The Economics of Cities (3) [14 Oct 2011]
Can the “invisible hand” solve Africa’s poverty? [13 Oct 2011]
Skidelsky in Madrid [12 Oct 2011]
Why Is Macroeconomics Such A Mess? [11 Oct 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Contestable Markets - Lucozade takes on Coca Cola [10 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Producing Coffee - Kenya in Pictures [4 Oct 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Science Cities and External Economies of Scale [29 Sep 2011]
Study Note - Finite Resources and Sustainability [13 Sep 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Savings and Banking to enhance Development [16 Aug 2011]
Monetary Policy Roundtable [25 Jul 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Reducing Unemployment after a Recession [11 Jul 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Oligopsony - Dairy Losses Drive Farmers from the Fields [10 Jul 2011]
UK firms wake up to Brazilian opportunities [21 Jun 2011]
The Economic Importance of Manufacturing [20 Jun 2011]
Six Global Trends Shaping Business Strategy [15 Jun 2011]
Chinese inward investment in the London property market [12 Jun 2011]
Is Cost Benefit Analysis of our natural environment ‘a slippery slope’? [3 Jun 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Supply-Side Policies [25 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Trend Growth [23 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Recession [23 May 2011]
Labour Market: Days lost through industrial disputes [23 May 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Monopsony Power in Markets [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: The Importance of Profit [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Competition and Efficiency [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Innovation and Economic Policies [18 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Ownership and Control in Modern Businesses [18 May 2011]
A2 Micro: External Economies of Scale [18 May 2011]
A2 Macro: Revealed Advantage [12 May 2011]
UK Economy Update: What Mervyn Said [11 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Innovation in Markets [4 May 2011]
A2 Macro: Chinese investment in the EU [3 May 2011]
AS and A2 Macro Revision: Keynesian Economics [28 Apr 2011]
AS and A2 Macro Revision: The China Effect [26 Apr 2011]
Rise in investment could kick start recovery [18 Apr 2011]
Smartphones and Creative Destruction [16 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Double-Dip Recession [8 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Gross National Income (GNI) [7 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Fiscal Austerity [6 Apr 2011]

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