Chancellor risks 'Gordon Brown moment' over ISA-pensions - Steve Webb

Ex-pensions minister sounds stern warning

Jenna Towler
clock • 2 min read

Moving pensions contribution tax relief to an ISA-style system could cause serious long-term damage and be George Osborne's ‘Gordon Brown' moment, former pensions minister and now director of policy at RLAM Steve Webb has warned.

Webb was due to make the comments at the Association of Consulting Actuaries annual conference. The government is considering moving away from the traditional exempt, exempt, tax (EET) method of pension tax relief towards either an system based around the ISA or to a flat-rate of relief of between 25% and 33%. Webb likened a shift to ISA-style pensions to Gordon Brown's notorious tax raid on occupational pension schemes. Repeating history "The former Chancellor probably thought that raising billions of pounds from pensions through abolishing dividend tax credits was a complex cha...

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