Tax allowance for over 65?

Mikeyorks

pensioner2 wrote: »

Why are those over 65 only getting a £450 increase in their tax allowance,rather than £1000?

Because that's the entitlement under the RPI indexation?

Your 1st post bemoans the fact that the age related allowances appear not to be being increased. The 2nd post bemoans the fact that it is!

The phrase ' be grateful for the £90 saving and the fact the allowance was increased way beyond indexation 2 years ago' .... comes to mind?

System

noh wrote: »

Why do those over 65 have a higher tax allowance than those under 65?
...

May be it's because we live in a socially progressive country and most of us still believe that we should make life for pensioners a little better, after their long working life.

Also, I would guess that the over 65 allowance may have originally been intended to take many pensioners out of paying tax, for those pensioners who only receive the state pension plus a small amount of additional income, which I think would be the logic you are failing to see

John_Pierpoint

Pensioners also have a higher personal cost of [STRIKE]living.[/STRIKE] surviving, and the things they spend money on tend to increase in cost faster than average:

The icicles are going to do damage when they drop off the roof - just pop up the ladder with a broom?

Your watch needs a new battery, just unscrew the 4 screws - Where are the screws, I don't seem to be able to see them?

The car is stuck in the snow but a couple of hours with a shovel should chip up the ice - anybody seen my support corset?

Need I go on into the joys of incontinence pads and Zimmer frames - not to mention the difficulties of remembering which day of the week it is.

Has anyone seen the tax accountant's phone number?

Meanwhile has anyone noticed the price of a loaf of bread this year, the cost of keeping the heating on 24/7 and the ever increasing council tax?

They say that the price of computer games is down again this year.

Need I continue to discuss the weekly cost of care home fees?

[Coming soon from USA a computerised "butler" robot that will trail round behind the pensioner monitoring its health and reminding it to take its tablets - costs no more than a compact car.
So there is a thoughtful Xmas present for the crumblie who is becoming a burden in your life]
.

zygurat789

Mikeyorks wrote: »

The phrase ' be grateful for the £90 saving and the fact the allowance was increased way beyond indexation 2 years ago' .... comes to mind?

Are you referring to the occasion when this was done to get the govt. out of a hole they had dug themselves into rather than as a magnaminous gesture to the over 65s?

Mikeyorks

zygurat789 wrote: »

Are you referring to the occasion when this was done to get the govt. out of a hole they had dug themselves into rather than as a magnaminous gesture to the over 65s?

No.

The ladder out of the hole was by adding £600 to the basic personal allowance wef from mid of that year. The age related allowances were not touched at that time.

The basic rate had already been raised by £210 (to £5435) purely on indexation in the pre-budget report .......... the age related allowances were increased by £1480 and £1490 respectively (of which circa £300 was indexation).

I would say that was 'way beyond indexation'?

zygurat789

Never forget that the above figutres are for 2010/11 and are not yet law and may never be if the coalition falls on thursday.

Mikeyorks

zygurat789 wrote: »

Never forget that the above figutres are for 2010/11 .

They're actually for 08-09 or 11-12 ...... depending which posts you're referring to.

noh

BAA1 wrote: »

........Also, I would guess that the over 65 allowance may have originally been intended to take many pensioners out of paying tax, for those pensioners who only receive the state pension plus a small amount of additional income, which I think would be the logic you are failing to see

No logic in that at all.
The logical thing to do would be to raise the tax allowance for all.

zygurat789

noh wrote: »

No logic in that at all.
The logical thing to do would be to raise the tax allowance for all.

That is the most selfish and illogical suggestion I have seen here.
A word of warning, as you get older so you will get wiser.

zygurat789

Mikeyorks wrote: »

They're actually for 08-09 or 11-12 ...... depending which posts you're referring to.

2011/12, obviously, just a slip of the brain.