Tax hysteria
Whatever the original justification was for age-related allowances, it no longer exists.
What the coalition should have announced in June 2010 was an early move to incorporating our tax-free cash benefits, like the winter fuel allowance, into the taxable state pension, linking that pension to both the tax-free allowance and the minimum wage for 18- to 20-year-olds, amalgamating income tax and NIC, extending VAT to many VAT-free items and improving the progressive tax structure.
John Birkett
Horseleys Park
St Andrews, Fife