First Tory election bribe is announced – and its about pensions
The Conservatives have announced the first of what will probably be many pre-election bribes, saying they will end a tax on ‘defined contribution’ pension pots that kicks in when the recipient dies.
At the moment, the government takes 55 per cent of untouched money in such pension pots, and from pensions that have not been used at all. From April 2015, inheritors will only pay the marginal income tax rate, or no tax at all if the deceased was under 75 and the pension is left untouched, according to reports.
The new policy means the Treasury will lose around £150 million per year and 320,000 people will benefit. This is very few people in the national scheme of things, but each of them stands to make nearly £470,000.
But let’s put this into perspective: The total number of pensioners in the UK is around 12,300,000.
So you can see that the Tories are appealing very much to their own constituency – the privileged few who have been able to build up pensions of that size.
It is likely they are hoping most people won’t do the sums and will assume the Conservatives are making another big giveaway to pensioners. This is the population group that is most likely to vote in any election, so the Tories are naturally keen to keep them on-side – especially after a series of announcements earlier in the current Parliament that were far from beneficial to people coming up to retirement and downright prejudiced against young people coming onto the job market, while retaining the pension benefits available to MPs.
In the light of all this, let’s have another poll:
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These morons must be compltely brainless, anyone looking at this and remembering all the lies and broken promises made that almost got them elected last time would need a shrink if they believe anything that comes out of Herr CaMoron and his High Command cohorts!
Nothing surprising then, what a shower of muppets words fail me !!!
So they announce a move that in reality only favours a very few rich people. The reporting makes it sound like a give-away to the alleged pampered pensioners as an electoral bribe. They hope that enough of the grey vote will be fooled into thinking that they will in fact benefit.
Meanwhile it has had the added benefit of making the many who have become poorer under this bunch of thugs resent pensioners, as being pampered, or protected or favoured. Worse, a lot of people are beginning to resent “the old” because their votes can be bought to keep the Tories in power.
Another Crosby tick in not just one box – divide the masses, make them fight among themselves – but the other that is the starting gun for the attack on state pensions and poorer pensioners. Just like they have vilified and attacked the disabled, chronically ill, the unemployed, the carers etc. The vilification that was necessary to justify the cruelty. The cruelty that was necessary to enrich the richest.
This is deeply scary. In the next 8 months there will be ample time for the hate campaign to be run, so if they win the job is half done. If they lose, then our society will be tainted by the propaganda that all the elderly are right-wing, avaricious, and will sell us all down the river for a few pennies and pounds. We know that’s wrong, but will anyone else by May 2015?