Shortly after Gordon Brown destroyed Britain’s genuinely ‘world-class’ private pensions system, I dubbed him The Man Who Stole Your Old Age.
Now it seems Surkeir and Rachel From Complaints are determined to finish the job.
They have declared war on Baby Boomers, born between 1945 and 1964. And in the words of former Labour Chancellor Denis Healey, they intend to squeeze them – us, I’m 71 – until the pips squeak.
In their desperation for money to throw at their various client groups, this government has deliberately targeted older people.
We’re seen as a rich seam to be mined to exhaustion. First they took away the winter fuel allowance.
OK, so that was no big deal for some, but for others on fixed incomes it could mean, to use one of Labour’s favourite slogans, the difference between heating and eating – especially at a time when Miliband’s kamikaze Net Zero policies have lumbered us with some of the world’s most extortionate energy bills.
Then they came for pensions and inheritance tax (IHT). I shall leave the so-called ‘granular’ details to my colleagues on Money Mail. As I’ve said before, I do words not numbers.
The latest pre-Budget scaremongering is that we can expect even higher taxes on pensions and yet another IHT grab.
Reeves also has set her sights on extracting as much money as possible from our homes, just because they have risen in value. She forgets, or rather couldn’t care less, that many people have scrimped and saved over 25 years to pay off their high-interest mortgages.
Labour is reported to be planning to massively increase council tax, which for retirees may mean they have to sell the homes they have toiled all their lives to buy.
IHT is one of the most hated and pernicious taxes. Thresholds have been frozen as property values have risen, which has meant that when parents die their children have to sell the family home so the government can have its pound of flesh.
These are wealth taxes by any other name, even those who are hardest hit cannot be described as wealthy by any stretch of the imagination.
They are the backbone of Britain, who have done the right thing, worked hard and paid taxes for up to 50 years in anticipation of a comfortable retirement.
Now they find the rug being pulled from underneath them by a rapacious Socialist government –which was elected by one-in-five of those eligible to vote – which wants to confiscate what money they have accrued for their old age in order to feed the welfare monster and placate their militant trades union paymasters.
Little wonder that people pass on money to the children as soon as possible to minimise their IHT liability. Until now, they have been able to do that tax-free, provided the gift was made seven years before they die.
Right to left, Gordon Brown, former chancellor, John Prescott, former deputy, and Tony Blair, former PM at the Labour Party conference in 1998
The latest buzz is that Reeves plans to close that loophole, too. In future, all gifts would be subject to tax of up to 40 per cent. This is perhaps the most vindictive smash-and-grab raid of all. Given that property prices are now at historic highs, the Bank of Mum and Dad is sometimes the only way young people can raise a big enough deposit to get on the housing ladder.
Labour seems to have a perverse hostility towards the traditional family and the natural human desire to pass on property and wealth to future generations. The family farm tax is the most glaring example.
I don’t actually buy the argument that Labour has no choice because of the parlous state of the public finances. Some of this is motivated by pure spite.
Why else would Ginge Rayner be looking at taxing garden sheds? Plenty of gentlemen of a certain age like to spend time in their sheds, pottering James May-style once they give up work. Why the hell should they have to pay tax for the privilege?
The government is even considering taxing larger back gardens. Already councils are sending up drones looking for recently built conservatories, where retirees can soak up the sun and do the crossword in peace. This would allow them to revalue the properties and rake in even more cash to be frittered away on HR officers, bike lanes and drag-queen storytime.
Another report suggested that the government was considering scrapping concessionary bus and rail passes for Boomers, while at the same time granting free travel to the under-22s.
Under-22s? Give me strength. Still, with 16-year-olds getting the vote, even though they are officially considered ‘children’ by the courts, what else should we expect?
All this is consistent with pitting the generations against each other, blaming ‘selfish’ Boomers for hoarding all the wealth while Gen Z struggles.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the NHS 10 Year Health Plan launch in July
Some people call this the politics of envy. Politics of resentment more like. Brown’s pensions robbery raised around £5 billion a year for the Treasury, but cost pension funds £250 billion in the first 20 years alone. Since then, it’s yielded virtually nothing as final salary schemes have collapsed and funds have stopped investing in Britain.
Reeves’ raid will only raise pennies in comparison, but will seriously affect the finances and quality of life of those older people who will have to pay up.
Not that Labour’s fanatical Remainer ‘elite’ will give a damn. The war on Boomers is punishment for older people having the audacity to vote Brexit/Tory/ and now Reform.
It’s worth remembering that one Boomer, Surkeir himself, born 1962, was granted a special tax-exempt pension, guaranteed by a unique Act of Parliament, when he retired as Director of Public Prosecutions.
Plus, like Gordon Brown, he’ll also enjoy a gold-plated Prime Minister’s pension and an additional expenses allowance of £115,000 a year. Nice work if you can get it.
Reeves shouldn’t have to worry about the future, either. When she’s sacked, she’ll get a decent payout, an index-linked Chancellor’s pension – courtesy of the mug British taxpayers she has so roundly rogered. And maybe there’ll even be a few directorships and a job with the International Monetary Fund, answering the phone in the complaints department.
Meanwhile Britain’s Boomers will be left clinging to the wreckage, scraping by in their old age.
Still it’s what Labour does. We’re talking bears and woods here. Always have done, always will. They’ll rob you blind and bankrupt the country on their way out. Remember ‘There’s no money left’ last time?
I leave you with the wisdom of the late Beatle George Harrison, written in 1966 about a previous Labour government under Harold Wilson.
Now my advice for those who die, Declare the pennies on your eyes, ‘Cause I’m the taxman, Yeah, I’m the taxman…
