The 2009 Budget £100k-£112 earnings stealth tax (personal tax allowance wiped !)

[AtW]

Given the continual increases, I wonder if a few firms might start advertising full-gross salaries alongside the "traditional" amounts and put this on payslips as a means of demonstrating how much they are really paying in tax.

That should happen - in USA petrol outlets are required to put amount of tax on receipts, same should happen in this country so that people see %-tage of Govt take in goods they buy, same should happen with salaries - that's the only way to combat stealth taxes (well that and not elect Nu Libour scum).

[ASB]

Pensioners could always get a larger personal allowance to compensate for this. Of course people would then say it is ageist - why should a pensioner simply get more allowance just because they are older.

They are already a set of age allowances. You get about 3k extra at age 65 and a little more at age 75. Then at 75 there is the married couples allowance of 6k ish. These do get taken away by 1£ for each 2£ over the limit.

[Cyberman]

Pensioners could always get a larger personal allowance to compensate for this. Of course people would then say it is ageist - why should a pensioner simply get more allowance just because they are older.

Which comes back to the fact that NI is basically an age-related tax - only paid by those people in employment.

Most pensioners have paid tax and NI throughout their lives to enable them to have a pension. To get a state pension you had to contribute for 44 years as a male etc, and if you contributed less it is a pro-rata entitlement.

With inflation and regressive taxes such as council tax, pensioners require as much tax allowance as can be afforded by HMG, or HMG would have to contribute more to them through benefits and state pension. It is swings and roundabouts, but current pensioner inflation is 12% whereas the state pension increase this year is 2.5% !!