Govt 'snuck out' new figures on pensioner tax payments - Steve Webb

Figures up to 2017/18, published earlier this week, showed pensioners paid £17.9bn in income tax on their pensions in 2016/17 and £18.4bn in 2017/18. A note accompanying the data, however, said the measurement of tax being paid by pensioners had changed. Instead of using a sample survey, as was previously the case, the figures are now based on ‘real-time information' supplied by pension schemes. According to Webb (pictured), what the small print did not mention was that the new method had added some £4bn per year to the estimated amount of income tax being paid by pensioners. When the...