Chancellor must return to pension tax relief reform, think tank urges

Highly regressive system still needs to change

Jenna Towler
clock • 3 min read

The disproportionate nature of pension tax relief in the UK must be addressed despite the Chancellor's decision to back away from immediate changes, a think tank has said.

A Resolution Foundation report said high earners would have suffered substantial losses under either a pension ISA system or shift to a flat rate model. It said this, twinned with major disruption to the pensions industry, made George Osborne step back from planned changes. Treasury sources briefed the media last weekend. The think tank's report outlines potential gains and losses from the two main proposals - a pension ISA or flat rate relief and urges the Chancellor to return to reform plans in the future. Pension tax relief currently costs the Treasury about £35bn a year and is ...

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