Friday, Mar 30, 2007
Was this the moment the birth of BTL
Telegraph: Revealed: Brown's pension grab secret
Gordon Brown was warned explicitly that he would cause the death of the final salary pension scheme and cost companies and individuals billions of pounds when he took the knife to the pension system in his first Budget.
Posted by enuii @ 11:08 PM (263 views) Add Comment
12 Comments
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1. royston said...
'In 1997, the Chancellor claimed the change was made to "remove a bias against investment which has been built into the tax system".'
Oh, and I suppose that having a tax system that allows the propertied classes to get richer while those without property become systematically worse off is OK then, Gordon?
.........And there is talk of making this p%#*k Prime Minister.
If they do, I will personally lead a protest down Downing Street!
2. This comment has been removed as it was found to be in breach of our Blog Policies.
3. Hyrax said...
New Labor = New Tories was always true then. Taken a while for the dust to settle on this one, or rather the cover-up to be exposed. Governmental organised crime by Gord the Impaler. Taxes, Smoke, Mirrors and No Pension. This really sucks.
4. Ian said...
At the end of the day Royston, him being a P%*$k not withstanding... (if he makes it) he wont last more than the length of time it takes to have a general election.. Who the hell wants a Scottish prime minister? He’s already put a Scottish bloke on our 20 pound notes! What ever next? Number 10 door painted tartan?
5. nearly30 said...
Sorry for long quote - got this from BBC:
Mr Balls, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We decided on the basis of civil service advice to go ahead because this was the best thing for the long-term investment of the UK economy."
"The suggestion that the decisions were made not on the basis of the best civil service advice... is not true," Mr Balls, a long-time ally of the chancellor, added.
A Treasury spokesman blamed pension schemes' recent funding problems on the dotcom crash, pension holidays in the 1980s and 1990s and a rise in life expectancy.
He continued: "The Times' analysis is abject nonsense and a complete travesty of the information they have received.
"What these papers show is that, from the early 1990s, the Treasury recognised that dividend tax credits were an anomaly in the tax system which distorted business decisions and discouraged long-term investment.
"They show that we were right to complete the phasing out of dividend tax credits in 1997, coupled with the reductions in corporation tax which have created the conditions for a 50% increase in business investment over the last 10 years.
"They show that we were right in the decisions we recommended, and that we never advised against them."
Well - you may be right there enuii - kill of the will of business to prop up pensions and kick start the BTL era!!!
Case closed in my book - will explain why my boss in 2001 decided to buy 2 properties - with the express reason to use them as a pension fund - and no this wasn't someone with lots of liquidity - just someone wanting to look after their future!
By Gordo - was never a fan - but this is your legacy!!
6. nearly30 said...
Interesting also when you read the debate on this at the time:
Dividend Tax Credits — 18 Jan 1999 — Commons Division No. 35
The statement then said that they wanted the change to prevent "boom and bust economics which eroded the real value of pensioners' savings through inflation exceeding 10%" - funny this - as pensioners still have personal inflation of 10% and now in an economic environment that gives them less money from their pensions - noone is a winner then!!!
7. Cstanhope707 said...
I hope and one day very soon that the Labour Party is iradicated and goes bust, but I want Tony Blair to stay on as Prime Minister for atleast one more year yet, just so that Brown is left holding and finally exposed when it all goes South, even better I want Blair's replacement to be a hard line Socialist Dinasour just to speed up the demise of this corrupt and tyranical party.
8. royston said...
If BTLs are being purchased for pensions, who is going to buy them when the masses of BTL owners want to cash them in?
I am already convinced of a short term decline in house values, but this idea of an avalanche on BTL sales in the distant future makes me worried about long term values too.
9. enuii said...
Just watched the BBC News glossing some pro Brown spin on this revelation 'that he took the best adice available and moved in the interest of the British economy'. I take that the best interests are businesses and shareholders and not decent people trying to save for a reasonable pension. As far as I'm concerned Brown has financially raped the British populous by the backdoor to further both his and teflon's personal and political aspirations.
10. Diddad said...
Looking at the BBC website the headline is 'Treasury rejects attack on Brown.' They do it every time don't they? As I see it, the news is the fact that a) this discussion took place 10 years ago and b) the information is now in the public domain. The fact Brown's supporters reject it is secondary to the main issue - as well as stating the bleeding obvious.
I hope similar stuff just pours out until Brown is too damaged to be P.M. I bet he's looking over his shoulder daily for the next thing.
11. paul said...
Financial rape and pillage. Absolutely nearly30.
12. paul said...
Sorry, I mean enuii.