Chancellor Rachel Reeves (Image: Getty)
is under growing pressure to stop pensioners from being dragged into the taxman’s net.
More than 20,000 people have signed a new by Silver Voices demanding that the Government takes action to ensure the is not taxed.
The campaign group warned OAPs whose only income is the are at risk of having to pay income tax due to increases and frozen thresholds.
It is calling for the tax-free personal allowance for pensioners to be raised by £1,000 next month, then in line with the going forward.
Silver Voices director Dennis Reed said: “Because of the Silver Voices/Daily Express campaign it was impossible for the government of the day to scrap the vital , but now Labour is intending to erode it by stealth.
“If the frozen tax threshold is continued, or even extended in the spring statement, increases will become taxed for most pensioners, reducing its value by 20% at a stroke.
“Rachel Reeves must act urgently to keep Labour’s manifesto promise on the .”
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Labour pledged to maintain the – which sees the go up each year by whichever is highest out of 2.5%, inflation, or average earnings growth – in its election manifesto.
The petition comes ahead of the Chancellor’s spring statement on March 26.
The tax-free personal allowance has been frozen at £12,570 until 2028, but the new is due to increase to £11,973 next month.
A increase of 5% or more in April 2026 will take the new over the personal allowance.
But if it does not exceed the threshold next year it will the year after as the means there will be a rise of at least 2.5% in April 2026 and 2.5% in April 2027.
Colette Rogers, 75, from Dorset, is among pensioners who have already been pulled into paying income tax.
The retired nurse is entitled to a proportion of her late husband’s as well as her own, and has a small NHS pension of around £37 a month.
She said: “It is totally unfair that pensioners on modest incomes have been targeted into paying income tax on the money they earned and has been already taxed at source.”
The 75-year-old described the tax bill as a “double whammy” after also being stripped of her .
She said she needs to keep her house warm due to her disabilities but it was now “a case of heat of eat”.
She urged the Government to “stop targeting pensioners”, adding: “The feeling I get is that they are trying a method to get us off this mortal coil, because people are living longer, mostly in good health, but a danger that they will require looking after as they age. And this method is to send us into poverty.”
Calls to ensure older people whose only income is the are not taxed have been echoed by other charities.
Independent Age warned it has heard from concerned pensioners who are already at “breaking point”.
Director of policy and influencing Morgan Vine said: “Many of the older people on a low income that we support are worried about the prospect paying income tax on their .
“These are people that are already cutting back on essentials like food and heating. Their budgets are already stretched to breaking point.
“By April, the gap between the new and the tax-free personal allowance will be less than £1000. This will lead to people with small private pensions facing taxation that will put their finances under even more strain.
“We should all be able to live a later life in financial security, to live well rather than just survive. We need a consensus among all the political parties on the adequate income needed to prevent poverty in later life. Following this, long-term plans must be put into place to ensure every older person is able to receive this amount.”
Age UK charity director Caroline Abrahams added: “When personal allowances for income tax are frozen this is really just a tax rise by another name.
“The cost pressures are still intense for millions of pensioners on a low fixed income so they can ill afford to have to return any of their to the state, but this is where we are rapidly heading unless the Government changes its mind.”
The Chancellor faced an intense backlash for axing winter fuel payments for around 10 million OAPs in her Budget last October.
The Government blamed a £22 billion black hole in the public finances left by the , which they denied.
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride warned that Labour cannot be trusted when it comes to pensioners.
The senior Tory MP said: “The have consistently backed our pensioners. Labour by contrast have slashed winter fuel payments and at the last election refused to protect the from this tax grab.
“Labour’s consistent neglect shows they can never be trusted to secure our pensioners’ futures.”
Some 660,000 more older people were brought into paying income tax last year amid frozen tax thresholds.
An HM Treasury spokesperson said: “The is the foundation for ensuring pensioners are able to live with the dignity and respect they deserve.
“We are committed to the which is due to rise by 4.1% this year.”
Silver Voices director Dennis Reed (Image: Getty)
Comment by Silver Voices director Dennis Reed
The frozen tax thresholds scandal affecting older people is about to explode in the Chancellor’s Red Box.
Rachel Reeves has been ignoring the impact of the frozen tax personal allowances as hundreds of thousands of pensioners have been sucked into the tax system for the first time because they have an additional state pension entitlement or a small private pension.
Very soon, unless she takes urgent action, the basic state pension and the triple lock will be subject to taxation for most retirees.
The current freeze on tax thresholds is due to be lifted in 2028, by which time most pensioners will find themselves being taxed.
The Chancellor may in fact exacerbate the crisis by extending the freeze until the end of this Parliament.
Taxing the basic state pension would make a mockery of its status as a safety net in retirement.
It is already at the bottom of the league amongst developed nations in terms of its relative value against the cost of living and, if it is taxed, pensioner poverty will inevitably soar.
And the whole basis of the triple lock will be compromised. The triple lock formula is
supposed to protect older people from sudden changes in economic fortunes and price hikes, as we cannot work more hours to compensate.
To reduce its value by 20% through taxation drives a coach and horses through the formula.
The Silver Voices petition calling for action by the Chancellor has surged to well over 20,000 signatures in less than a week, reflecting the growing anger of pensioners at this sneaky attack on our standards of living.
If the freeze is not lifted the Government will pay a heavy electoral price, as it will be seen as another direct attack on our age group, following the scrapping of winter fuel payments.
Taxing the triple lock would be seen as a clear breach of Labour’s manifesto commitment.
I call on the Chancellor, in her Spring Statement, to abandon her ageist policies and ensure that the state pension and the triple lock can never be taxed.