George Osborne is with the 99 per cent. Yes, really. One of the Chancellor’s more intriguing revelations yesterday was that 99 per cent of people save less than £40,000 in their pension scheme annually. This was how he justified cutting the tax-free sum that can be saved in pensions from £50,000 to £40,000. It was not as bad as expected, yet still the carping from the pensions lobby, which campaigned against the move in advance, goes on.
The special pleading must stop. Anyone who can afford to pour more than £40,000 a year into their pension is, by definition, much better off than the rest of the population. When the average person can afford to pay only £6,000 a year into their pension, there is