The pension challenges facing western governments are also confronting the world’s second most populous country. At what age should the state start to pay a pension? The question is a challenge to all governments, whether democratic or otherwise. There are two main drivers, at opposite ends of life: Life expectancy. Unless state pension ages increase in line with life expectancy, the state spends more on pensions and a rising proportion of life is spent in retirement. The eco

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) publishes a review of the cash savings market following evidence of some dubious tactics at work. Table 1: Average easy access deposit interest rates and base rates at quarter end 31 July 2023 Q3 2023 Q4 2023 Q1 2024 Q2 2024 Average rate 1.66% 1.96% 2.03% 2.12% 2.11% Base rate 5% 5.25% 5.25% 5.25% 5.25% Source: Financial Conduct Authority While the use of paper cash is declining as a means of payment, the need to retain a cash reserve remai

We now have a clear understanding of how much the main State Pension will increase next April. That the State Pension triple lock was not going to change was a consistent commitment in the election manifestos of all major political parties – Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrats. In truth, once one party had nailed its colours to the mast, the others had no choice but to follow suit, given the size of the voting constituency represented by State pensioners. As a reminder

With a ‘black hole’ of £22 billion to fill, there are plenty of groups giving Rachel Reeves advice. The Fabian Society published a report on taxation on August Bank Holiday Monday. While their main audience is in Scotland, which has its summer bank holiday at the start of August rather than at the end, the timing was unusual. Nevertheless, that was the date chosen by the Fabian Society to release Expensive and Unequal. The case for reforming pension tax (2024). The Fabian Soc

Will increased capital gains tax (CGT) mean less tax gets paid? Source HMRC The Labour Party’s 2024 manifesto said, ‘We will not increase National Insurance, the basic, higher, or additional rates of Income Tax, or VAT.’ The absence of any comment on CGT meant that Rachel Reeves received persistent questions during the election campaign about a possible increase. Unsurprisingly, there was no definitive answer. At the beginning of August, HMRC published new data about how much

Many chancellors ago, in November 2016, Philip Hammond announced an end to spring Budgets and their replacement with autumn Budgets. At the time it seemed a sensible idea to allow changes in tax to be legislated before the start of the new tax year. In practice, it did not go to plan: Hammond himself presented a Budget the following March and then a series of political, and other, disruptions caused Budget timing to go off the rails. In 2022, there was no formal Budget – the