George Osborne’s Budget will threaten workers’ retirement funds with 55% stealth tax

‘Millions of workers who have spent decades building up their pension pots could be hit by a mammoth 55 per cent stealth tax, experts warned yesterday.

Analysts say proposals in Chancellor George Osborne’s Budget will hit not just the rich, but also those on more modest incomes.

Mr Osborne claimed a move to lower the “lifetime allowance” – the maximum that can be saved into a pension pot before a 55 per cent penal tax kicks in – from £1.25million to £1million, would affect “fewer than four per cent” of people. But experts argue that the allowance has now almost halved from £1.8million since 2010 and the tax will hit older savers who have built up their pension pots over many years.’

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