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

Ex-pensions minister sounds stern warning

Jenna Towler
clock • 3 min read

Moving pension contribution tax relief to an ISA-style system could cause serious long-term damage and be George Osborne's ‘Gordon Brown' moment.

Steve Webb, the coalition pensions minister who is now director of policy at Royal London, 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. "The former Chancellor probably thought that raising billions of pounds from ...

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