Chipping away at tax relief

In his pre-Budget report (24 November) the Chancellor announced that, if re-elected, the Government would freeze the annual and lifetime allowances for tax-relieved pension savings. From 2011/12 the allowances would remain unchanged for five years up to and including 2015/16. Such measures, combined with a proposal for a 45% top rate level of income tax for those earning over £150,000 p.a. from April 2011, signal a re-discovered appetite for progressive taxation and redistribution; policies largely absent from Downing Street for almost thirty years.