Sir, – Yesterday I looked up the value of my pension fund to find that it had reduced substantially due to the pension levy charge. In the current year, this charge equates to many months of contributions.
Ministers of finance levy taxes on citizens – that is their job. However every citizen should be assured that taxes are levied in a fair and equitable manner and are not ageist in orientation. The pension levy fails on all three counts.
The levy affects citizens in private-sector defined contribution schemes (as almost all private-sector defined benefit schemes are now closed off). State employees who enjoy defined benefit schemes are unaffected by this levy – as State pensions are funded on a pay-as-you-go basis by the State and no actual fund exists. In any objective review, the application of this levy in this manner is unfair and inequitable.
In addition it is ageist in orientation. As the levy is based on a percentage of the fund value, older workers who have been contributing to a pension plan over a long number of years will have built up a much higher capital value than younger workers starting off. Therefore older people pay more.
The levy takes no account that these same citizens will be dependent on these funds in the not too distant future and will need every penny they can get to support themselves in their old age. On the other hand, the Government Ministers will enjoy guaranteed pensions from their “gold-plated” defined benefit, post-retirement pension indexation schemes which are being paid for by the levy on their fellow citizens in the private sector. And they will probably be appointed to state boards as well just to give them a little extra!
How inequitable and unfair can life be in this country of ours? – Yours, etc,
JOHN McDONNELL,
Ballyclough, Limerick.