Politicians’ failure to plan for an ageing nation

SIR – David Willetts (report, March 5) suggests reforming inheritance tax to generate more revenue for the Exchequer to squander, on the pretext that this will help younger generations.

The truth is that successive governments of all political persuasions have failed to address the problem of an ageing population, either by encouraging people to take out insurance to cover health and social care or by investing in a social care fund.

While advocating reforms to make the council tax system fairer, perhaps Lord Willetts could also explain why council tax rates on very high-value properties in wealthy areas of London are so much lower than in other parts of the county. Our own council tax bill would be at least 50 per cent lower if we lived in Kensington and Chelsea, but our house is only worth about a tenth of a similar property in that area.

If Lord Willetts is serious about addressing inequities, he should start close to Westminster. John Tristram

Henley-in-arden, Warwickshire SIR – We baby boomers paid basic rate income tax of 33 per cent on wages in the Seventies, and 14 per cent interest on mortgages in the Eighties.

Why should we be penalised now with the extra taxes suggested by Lord Willetts? Jennifer Stevenson

Warminster, Wiltshire

SIR – When my wife and I started married life about 50 years ago, there were many things on which we could have spent borrowed funds. Instead, along with many of our generation, we chose to keep within our means.

New homes were often sparsely furnished. Mortgage loans of only three times the husband’s annual salary, interest rates into double figures and 20 per cent house deposits were the norm. I’d be a lot more sympathetic to Lord Willetts’s argument if there was evidence that young people were prepared to prioritise the true essentials of life over lifestyle luxuries.

M R A Shute

Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire