UK pensioners have been hardest hit by the recent rise in council tax rates, the Pensions Policy Institute says, as the tax makes up a larger proportion of a retiree's total spending compared with the rest of the UK population.
Latest PPI briefing note – 'Pension incomes and council tax' – shows pensioners mainly reliant on state benefits spend 8.7% of their total expenditure on council tax compared with only 3.1% for all UK households. The higher percentage comes from the way pensioners receive their income. Instead of having their money linked to earnings, most pensioners' income increases, at best, in line with the retail price index. There is also a "lag effect", the PPI says, as the pension increases awarded in 2003 are based on the RPI (and council tax increases) in the previous year rather than the curr...
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