The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has called on Andy Burnham to shift the tax burden from workers to pensioners, including applying National Insurance to older workers, to address the rising costs of an ageing population.
Proposals to hit older homeowners
The IPPR, described as Labour's favourite think tank, suggests replacing council tax and stamp duty with a single property tax, which would hit older homeowners hard. It also wants to hike capital gains tax rates to bring them into line with income tax, despite HMRC finding this would cut the tax take as people cling onto assets rather than sell.
The think tank also proposes applying the 2% National Insurance rate to working pensioners who earn above the personal allowance. Ben Ansell, a professor at the University of Oxford and author of the paper, argues the tax system has increasingly shifted responsibility towards younger workers while protecting those who benefited from decades of rising property and asset wealth.
Triple lock and pensioner poverty
The IPPR is also reported to be against the state pension triple lock, which is facing pressure from the Treasury, think tanks, and MPs in Westminster. The article notes that a couple of decades ago there was widespread concern about pensioner poverty, but the left now seems to think pensioners are all sipping daiquiris in their second homes.
The piece highlights that Rachel Reeves's withdrawal of the winter fuel payment hit single pensioners living on as little as £11,350 a year, and the backlash sank Reeves and Keir Starmer's government before they had got going. It suggests another tax onslaught on pensioners will do the same.
Alternative approach for young people
The article argues a better way to help young people would be to reverse Reeves's £25billion "jobs tax", which has helped drive up youth unemployment. It also notes that nobody on the left accepts the housing shortage might have something to do with the fact that Britain's population has increased by roughly 10 million since the turn of the century, largely due to immigration.
The piece concludes that the left treats accumulated wealth as evidence of privilege, when for the vast majority of pensioners, it is the product of a lifetime of work, saving and home ownership. Labour wants to get its hands on it, to spend as it sees fit, rather than the people who have actually earned it.
