Taxed on tax

I LOOK forward with bated breath to the autumn Budget to see how the Chancellor will target taxpayers.

If we want to see the cost of living come down, the Government needs to do less, not more.

It should be going after Cadbury, Amazon, Google and the like, not increasing taxes for ordinary families. Philip Hammond is skating on thin ice if he messes with our pensions.

Gordon Brown found that out to his cost when he stole £5billion a year with the abolition of the tax credit, consigning his Labour government to the dustbin of history — and Treasury minister Ed Balls to Strictly Come dancing. M. COOPER, Wolverhampton, W. Mids.

IN the report on the possible raid on pension pots to provide extra spending for the NHS (Mail), Philip Hammond was quoted as saying: ‘We spend a huge amount of money on pensions tax relief.’

No, we don’t. The Government simply appropriates less of the wealth created by its citizens.

does Mr Hammond believe all the wealth created by the people of Britain rightly belongs to the state, which generously allows us to keep some of what we earn?

This is the mindset of socialism. Perhaps he should consider whether he is in the right political party. MALCOLM HEYMER,

Dereham, Norfolk.