R2OK!

mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

Those wealthy pensioners who have benefits are urged to give there benefits back according to the Works and Pension Secretary Iain Duncan Smith. It's a voluntary pay back to boost more money back into the Government coffers. Does that mean they will receive a tax rebate too? Absolute strange idea these MP's have.

http://news.sky.com/story/1083955/wealthy-pensioners-urged-to-hand-benefits-back
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The Government should target those lazy drunks and people who can't be bothered to work which claim benefits before the pensioners who have worked tooth and nail over the years.

ruddlescat · Joined: 16 Sep 2010 Posts: 18010 Location: Near Chester

This is simply yet another Government PR stunt as quite simply there is currently no facility which allows pensioners to give back things such as winter fuel payments as Peter Stringfellow discovered when he tried to do exactly that a couple of years ago

A better suggestion is that put forward by Simon Hughes who suggested that pensioners who don't feel they need the money can donate it to charity and the charity can then claim back any tax for which the pensioner would have been liable

Personally I think that all such benefits should be means tested but as the present Government seems unwilling to do this then we're in the area of second best options Sad

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Are you ready for a Ruddles?

John W · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 3367 Location: Warwickshire, UK

If it was to be voluntary then not much would be 'returned'. As ruddlescat says there is no mechanism in our tax system for this.

One could argue, though, that someone who has paid say 1 million pounds of income tax during his working life deserves a little 'rebate' in the form of pensioners benefits? Smile

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John W

nod · Joined: 24 Dec 2006 Posts: 3558

unclebuck · Joined: 19 Apr 2010 Posts: 276 Location: Warwickshire

Of course, people altruistically paying the money on to a charity doesn't actually save the taxpayer anything.

Would the best mechanism simply be to make this benefit available to anyone who could be bothered to claim it? (ie. not means tested, not paid out and then refunded, nothing complicated).

essexlady · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 348 Location: Essex

Well of course we pensioners do have to apply for a "free" bus pass. As already said - is it likely that people like Alan Sugar are going to claim a bus pass? As for the fuel allowance I don't feel bad about having it - I donate a lot to charities on a regular basis - and by doing so save the government money. My husband and I paid a lot of tax during our working lives (and of course i'm still paying tax on my pension) - £200 a year doesn't seem a huge "donation".