Pensioners and savers - forgotten victims of the economic downturn
8th January 2009
At the current time it is appropriate to draw attention to the situation faced by pensioners and savers.
They have been the forgotten victims of the economic downturn. Whilst cuts in interest rates are needed to help stimulate the economy, they do have a negative knock-on effect to those savers who have sensibly invested to see themselves through their retirements. They should not be penalised by taxes on income arising from savings. This is one of the great injustices of the tax system, with workers paying tax on the income that they earn and then paying tax again when they save it and earn interest.
The policies set out by David Cameron help address this situation. He is proposing that the Government should in its next Budget abolish income tax on savings for basic rate taxpayers and raise the pensioners' personal allowance by £2,000 to £11,490.
In the longer term steps need to be taken to reintroduce a savings culture. In 1997 the household savings ratio was 9.9%. It had shrunk to 1.8% in 2008.
Peter Aldous, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Waveney
Wissett, Halesworth, Suffolk, IP19 0RA
