Labour Has Pledged To Axe Jeremy Hunt's Pension Tax Cut For The Rich
The chancellor handed the perk to high-earners in the Budget.
By Kevin Schofield
16/03/2023
Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt, meeting children during a visit to Busy Bees Battersea Nursery in south London, after delivering his Budget earlier. Picture date: Wednesday March 15, 2023.
STEFAN ROUSSEAU VIA PA WIRE/PA IMAGES
Labour has pledged to overturn a massive tax cut for the rich announced in yesterday’s Budget by Jeremy Hunt.
The chancellor abolished the cap on the amount of money professionals can put into their pension pot before they are hit with extra charges by the Treasury.
He said it was intended to prevent high-earners like doctors leaving the workforce once they have more than £1 million in their retirement funds.
But experts calculated that the move - which will cost the government around £1 billion - only benefits the top 1% of earners.
It means that people with more than £1.4 million in their pension pot are able to pay up to £150,000 less in tax.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves this morning vowed that an incoming Labour government would reverse the move.
The party is also planning to force a Commons vote on the controversial policy.
Reeves said: “The Budget was a chance for the government to unlock Britain’s promise and potential. But the only surprise was a one billion pound pensions bung for the one per cent, a move that will widen the cost of living chasm.
“At a time when families across the country face rising bills, higher costs and frozen wages, this gilded giveaway is the wrong priority, at the wrong time, for the wrong people.
“That’s why a Labour government will reverse this move. We urge the Chancellor and the Conservative government to think again too.”
Labour said it would encourage doctors to stay in work by creating a targeted pension scheme, as the government has done for judges, rather than create a “free-for-all for the wealthy few”.
Labour has pledged to overturn a massive tax cut for the rich announced in yesterday’s Budget by Jeremy Hunt.
The chancellor abolished the cap on the amount of money professionals can put into their pension pot before they are hit with extra charges by the Treasury.
He said it was intended to prevent high-earners like doctors leaving the workforce once they have more than £1 million in their retirement funds.
But experts calculated that the move - which will cost the government around £1 billion - only benefits the top 1% of earners.
It means that people with more than £1.4 million in their pension pot are able to pay up to £150,000 less in tax.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves this morning vowed that an incoming Labour government would reverse the move.
The party is also planning to force a Commons vote on the controversial policy.
Reeves said: “The Budget was a chance for the government to unlock Britain’s promise and potential. But the only surprise was a one billion pound pensions bung for the one per cent, a move that will widen the cost of living chasm.
“At a time when families across the country face rising bills, higher costs and frozen wages, this gilded giveaway is the wrong priority, at the wrong time, for the wrong people.
“That’s why a Labour government will reverse this move. We urge the Chancellor and the Conservative government to think again too.”
Labour said it would encourage doctors to stay in work by creating a targeted pension scheme, as the government has done for judges, rather than create a “free-for-all for the wealthy few”.
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