In the 2011 budget he promised that pension tax age allowances would be inflated in line with RPI for the duration of this parliament.
In the 2012 budget he freezes the allowance for existing pensioners in 2013; and any pensioner reaching the age of 65 AFTER April 2013 will not receive the allowance.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/pers ... qus_threadQuote:
In the 2012 Budget last month George Osborne froze pensioners' tax-free allowance. But last year the Government promised that the age-related personal allowance would be increased in line with the retail prices index until at least 2015, campaigners have discovered.
"To ensure ... older people do not lose out, for the duration of this Parliament the annual increases in ... the age related allowance and other thresholds for older people will ... increase by the equivalent of the RPI," the 2011 Red Book, the official document detailing Budget measures, said on page 35.
The age-related allowance for those aged 65-74 currently stands at £9,940 but will rise to £10,500 when the new tax year starts on Friday. For pensioners 75 or over it will rise on Friday to £10,660 from £10,090.
However, under the changes announced in the Budget there will be no further rises. Mike Warburton of Grant Thornton, the accountancy firm, said the allowances would probably have risen by about 2.5pc next year, given that inflation was falling towards that figure. He said this would have saved pensioners about £52.20 a year in tax if they earned enough to benefit from the higher allowance.
In addition, the allowances will be scrapped altogether for anyone who has not reached their 65th birthday (or 75th for the higher allowance) by April next year.
Dot Gibson says:Quote:
The promise in last year's Red Book was uncovered by the National Pensioners Convention (NPC), which has launched an online petition calling on the Government to keep the age-related allowance and restore the link to inflation. The petition, which will be considered for a parliamentary debate if it attracts 100,000 signatures, has been signed by more than 50,000 so far.
Dot Gibson, the NPC's general secretary, said: "Clearly George Osborne is guilty of double-dealing when it comes to the age-related tax allowances. He said one thing last year – and 12 months later he has completely ripped the whole thing up. No wonder pensioners are saying they can't trust the Government.
Lord Rooker says:Quote:
But one former MP said there was no need for a petition in order to secure a Commons debate on the granny tax. In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, Lord Rooker, the former Labour MP Jeff Rooker, said: "When the late Audrey Wise, the then Tory backbencher Nigel Lawson and I carried our indexation amendments to the 1977 Finance Act we included the income tax age allowance.
"The simple effect is that the Chancellor must index the allowance each year, and if he does not want to do this he has to bring a parliamentary order to the Commons for approval or otherwise. The last time I checked, the requirement remained in law. So there is no hiding place for Members of the House of Commons."
I can't see that Osborne has any choice but to reverse his decision to freeze and scrap pensioner Age Allowance. This Government is giving all the signs that it is completely out of control, it doesn't even know what it said a year ago. Doesn't say much for expensive private education.