Rachel Reeves sees older generations as a golden goose to be plucked – this is why

Rachel Reeves is facing strong criticism after advice from a think tank suggested that pensioners could be hit with new taxes. Many people believe this would be an unfair and desperate move, especially since older generations are already struggling with rising prices, higher care costs, and inflation. Pensioners, who spent their whole lives paying taxes and contributing to the system, feel this would be a betrayal.

The idea came from the Resolution Foundation, a group with links to Labour, which proposed cutting national insurance by 2p but making up for it by raising income tax. On paper, this would bring in about £6 billion. But in practice, it would fall heavily on groups who don’t pay national insurance – including around 8.7 million pensioners, self-employed people, and landlords.

The problem is that pensioners have already paid national insurance for decades to fund their state pensions and healthcare. To make them pay again feels like taxing them twice. At the same time, the government is avoiding tackling areas where money is wasted – like the expensive public sector pension schemes, which could cost as much as £1.6 trillion in the future, or the billions spent on benefits for people who don’t work and migrants living in the UK.

Instead of controlling spending, the government seems more focused on squeezing those they think are “easy targets.” Critics say Labour promised to put the country first, but now, under pressure, they are simply raising taxes on groups who already feel overburdened.

This situation feels even more unfair when you think about real families. For example, the writer of this piece explained how his late mother had to pay £7,000 a month for her care home, using her savings, yet she was still taxed on her pension. People expect the government to support those who take responsibility for their own care, but instead, older people are being treated like a “golden goose” to pluck for money.

Meanwhile, many voters are becoming increasingly angry at what they see as double standards: civil servants enjoying four-day weeks, illegal migrants receiving benefits and good hotel accommodation, while pensioners on fixed incomes struggle to pay for food, heating, and care.

Margaret Thatcher once said the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money. Many people now feel this warning is becoming reality, with the government chasing after pensioners’ savings rather than fixing bigger issues.

For pensioners, the pressure is already unbearable. They face a cost-of-living crisis that has dragged on for years, along with high care home fees that Boris Johnson once promised to limit but never did. Adding more taxes on top of this seems cruel and shameful.

Older generations who worked hard all their lives and paid into the system deserve security in retirement, not new burdens. They should not be treated as a convenient source of quick cash by politicians who failed to deliver growth. The very suggestion of taxing pensioners further feels like a new low from a weak and failing government.