Osborne ally hints at tax raid on Middle Britain's pensions
Daily Mail - Feb 14, 2016
Millions of middle class savers could have their pensions raided by George Osborne, even though he made no mention of doing so in the Tory election manifesto, a key ally admitted yesterday.
The Chancellor is already considering plans to limit or even scrap pension tax relief in next month’s Budget, which could net the Treasury up to £34billion.
Cabinet Office minister Matthew Hancock said Mr Osborne was not bound by last May’s manifesto, which suggested that curbs on tax breaks would be limited to top earners paying the 45p tax rate, who bring in more than £150,000 a year.
Campaigners fear that five million workers paying the 40p tax rate on earnings over £42,385 may also be hit – and could lose more than a third of their tax relief, costing them thousands of pounds.
Mr Hancock yesterday denied that going further on cutting pension tax relief would represent a broken promise.
‘That’s not how I see it. You can add things to the manifesto,’ he told BBC1’s Sunday Politics show.
