The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has called on Andy Burnham to shift the tax burden from workers to pensioners, arguing this is needed to address the rising costs of an ageing population.
The think tank proposes replacing council tax and stamp duty with a single property tax, which would hit older homeowners hard. It also wants to apply the 2% National Insurance rate to working pensioners who earn above the personal allowance.
Capital gains and triple lock under fire
Like many on the left, the IPPR wants to hike capital gains tax rates to bring them into line with income tax. This comes even though HMRC has calculated that such a move would actually cut the tax take, as people cling onto assets rather than sell.
The Treasury, a mass of think tanks and many MPs in Westminster are all gunning for the state pension triple lock, and the IPPR is not keen on it either.
Oxford professor's argument
Ben Ansell, a professor at the University of Oxford and author of the paper, argues that the tax system had increasingly shifted responsibility towards younger workers while protecting those who had benefited from decades of rising property and asset wealth. As the population ages, pensioners must pay more.
The report follows previous pensioner-focused tax proposals from the Resolution Foundation, when Torsten Bell, now Labour pensions minister, was its director. Bell had wanted to tax pensioners' homes, savings, capital gains and inheritances, and axe the triple lock.
Winter fuel payment backlash
The article notes that Rachel Reeves withdrew the winter fuel payment, which hit single pensioners living on as little as £11,350 a year. The backlash sank Reeves and Keir Starmer's before they'd got going, and another tax onslaught on pensioners would do the same.
A better way to help young people would be to reverse Reeves's £25billion "jobs tax", which has helped drive up youth unemployment, the article argues.
