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Money Box: Tax Baby Boomers More

Tax baby boomers more

10/03/2018

Tax Baby Boomers More

BBC Radio 4 - Money Box, Tax Baby Boomers More

Should baby boomers pay higher wealth taxes to spare the younger generation?

Including baby boomer wealth taxes, increase in auto-enrolment contributions, mortgage rates go up and cold-calling ban to be in place by June.

David Willetts, the former Conservative minister, has called on baby boomers to put their hands in their pockets to help fund the increasing bill for public services through taxes on their wealth. In a speech this week he said that it wasn't fair that to expect younger working generations to pay higher taxes and pick up the full bill for the costs facing the older generation ahead of them. Instead they should pay more council and inheritance tax. A baby boomer and a millennial discuss.

Workers automatically enrolled into a pension at work face a big rise in their contributions from April. It will be the first increase since auto-enrolment began five years ago. Every employer in the UK now has to put staff into an auto enrolment scheme and pay into it. Employers will see their contributions double from one per cent to two per cent of a band of earnings. But individuals face the biggest rise - their contributions will treble from one per cent to three per cent. That means their take home will normally fall, despite the tax cuts that come in at the same time.

Mortgage rates are going up. In recent weeks a number of major lenders have withdrawn some of their best mortgage deals. The reason is driven by a fear of another rise in the Bank Rate. And that has caused an increase in what are called 'swap rates'. That is the price that lenders pay to protect their fixed price deals against rising interest rates. And if swap rates rise, it's a sign that lenders expect interest rates to rise, and mortgages to become more expensive.

The Government says a ban on cold-calling about pensions will be in place by June. It's been brought forward after a widespread campaign which we reported on a few weeks ago. The power to ban it is a government amendment to the Financial Guidance and Claims Bill which should complete its passage through parliament on Monday. The amendment gives the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Esther McVey powers to introduce the ban - which will include emails, social media, and other forms of communication. The new rules will also allow her to specify which calls will be allowed as well as which will not.

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Producer: Alex Lewis
Editor: Jim Frank.

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