Saga calls on Darling to reduce tax on savings

Saga Personal Finance, the over 50s financial expert, today calls on Alistair Darling to include measures in the 2009 Budget to help savers, particularly pensioners, who are the innocent victims of the credit crunch.

Roger Ramsden, CEO of Saga Personal Finance, said: "Following the Chancellor's comments yesterday that this is an issue he needs to look at, we would urge him to do this in time for measures to be included in the 2009 Budget. Introducing a tax cut on pensioners' savings income would help boost their earnings following the recent slashing of interest rates, helping the older generation ride out the economic storm more easily. This is an issue that Saga is passionate about as we constantly hear from our savers who rely on the interest from their hard-earned savings to boost their income in retirement.

"We feel that it is a real injustice that over 50s who have worked hard to build up substantial nest eggs to fund their golden years, now see the interest on their savings being not only eroded but also taxed. In our experience it is not pensioners who have huge mortgages and credit card bills and so they should not have to foot the bill for others' borrowing."