Savers to be given "help" in the budget.

Stuart_W

Government help for savers may be on the horizon:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/savings/4109375/Savers-to-be-given-Government-help-to-protect-against-interest-rates-cuts.html

Cutting income tax on savings for pensioners and extending ISA limits seem the most likely although I think this is just newspaper speculation but if rates do fall even further as expected this week, when savings are receiving 1% or less, the difference whether it is taxed or not will be minimal.

opinions4u

It will be token gestures.

They want us to spend. Not hoard.

Andrew64

opinions4u wrote: »

They want us to spend. Not hoard.

Quite! The government is spending like crazy, and they want us to spend like crazy! There is no incentive for Brown and Darling to encourage saving. We'll just have to find other reasonably safe places to put our money instead of in banks, and/or pay off any outstanding debt that we may have.

evenasus

opinions4u wrote: »

They want us to spend. Not hoard.

I certainly won't be spending, quite the opposite.

The problem is, the people that will spend, are the reckless credit accumulating idiots, that helped cause this mess in the first place.

nilrem_2

opinions4u wrote: »

They want us to spend. Not hoard.

True but for people who live primarily off interest from savings they just won't have any money to spend if rates plummet to zero!:)

juicyjude

My point exactly could not have put it better myself

Broadback

Personally I was pleased to see that the conservatives, at last, seem to have come out with an alternative solution to the spend, spend, spend of Labour. If I get pneumonia standing out in the rain will the doctor recommend that I go and stand again in the rain to cure it? I think not.

JOel_2

Andrew64 wrote: »

We'll just have to find other reasonably safe places to put our money instead of in banks

I have a shovel, some waterproof bags, and a garden, for those without gardens, window boxes or stuffed animals are a suitable alternative.

Joel

baby_boomer

On £10K, if savings' tax was abolished - on 1% interest - the benefit to the saver would be a mere £20.

LesU

There seems to be an opinion around, that if you save, you are hoarding. The interest that would normally accrue from a lump of savings won't necessarily be hoarded. There also seems to be a lot of talk about people living only off their savings.
I suggest that my situation is more the norm. A pension comes in monthly, but in addition interest from savings is topping the total up.

So just how am I supposed to stimulate the economy when I have £200 a month less coming in than I did last year? This was money that I usually spent during the year on goods and services. Now I am at least £200 down a month. 2% less on VAT does not balance that reduction.

Before anyone comes up with the mantra 'but inflation is dropping', remember, all that prices have to do is stay ridiculously high for inflation to drop. Inflation is a measure of the rate of rise of cost of living NOT the cost of living.

Reaper

I think we can expect something that targets only pensioners, so I'd rule out an ISA limits increase.

Last time I went out on a limb and suggested something the media hadn't thought of (that the government would cut VAT) I got it right so I'll tempt fate and try again.

My prediction is... they will change Pension Credit such that pensioners with savings will get higher payments.

This is needed because currently the incentives for saving for your own retirement have been weakend by all the means testing. Better still would be to reform the whole convoluted system but they haven't got the courage to do that.