| Brown's legacy |
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| Written by Dr Madsen Pirie | |
| Sunday, 25 February 2007 | |
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Whatever else he will be remembered for, pensions are certainly
included. He took over Europe's best pension regime and ruined it
spectacularly. The final salary schemes were the best-funded in Europe.
Brown hit them as an easy tax target, and has taken over £100bn from
them, and continues to deplete them every year. His complex regulations
have hit equities as an investment, further lowering the value of
pension funds. The result is that those employer-provided final salary
schemes are closing fast, as employers see no prospect of being able to
fund them. There is one privileged group, as Jill Kirby points out . The public sector pension schemes now totally outclass anything that business and industry can afford. Generous final salary schemes plus early retirement create a new divide between those who sup at the public trough and the poor souls who labour to fill it. Meanwhile, Through a lethal cocktail of tax-grabbing and overregulating, the government has destroyed faith in private schemes yet tried to wash its hands of all responsibility.But it won't wash. Brown will be remembered, all right. He'll be cursed by those whose hope of a decent retirement he ruined.
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