Brown ignored tax credit pension warnings
Treasury documents show Brown ignored pension warnings when scrapping dividend tax credit in his first Budget
Gordon Brown ignored stern warnings from
Treasury
officials that scrapping tax credits on dividends would have dire
consequences for pension funds and place a heavy financial burden on workers.
Documents obtained by
The Times
via a freedom of information request showed that within weeks of becoming
chancellor ten years ago, Brown was told that scrapping tax credits on dividends
would cost workers and local authorities billions of pounds.
Brown
, however, went ahead and scrapped the tax credit on dividends paid into
pension funds in his first Budget in 1997.
The documents shed new light on what has been one of the most contentious
decisions Brown has ever made as chancellor.
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