Veteran broadcaster Nicholas Parsons has called for tax breaks on pensions for those over the age of 85 who are still working.
Parsons, 95, has hosted BBC Radio 4’s Just A Minute for more than 50 years, and believes it would be a “nice gesture” if people were allowed to deviate on tax rules due to the number of years served.
He told The Sunday Times Money section: “They tax you on your old-age pension if you start earning.
“Surely I – and others my age – have paid into the system all our years? Surely (if you are working) after a certain age they shouldn’t tax it?”
He added: “I am not saying at age 65. But once you get to 85 or 90 they should say: ‘Well, you have been paying into the system for years. From now on, we won’t tax you.’
“It’s not for high earners, no. People who are living on their old-age pension and have a little bit of income from another source, they have to pay tax on it.
“I think after 90 it would be a nice gesture (to stop that).”
People who choose to work after reaching the state pension age do not have to pay national insurance, but they are still taxed on their pension if their earnings add up to more than their tax-free allowance.
Parsons also told the newspaper that radio show Just A Minute has never been a “huge earner” for him, “as there isn’t a lot of money in radio”, but that he loves doing it.
He said that Sale Of The Century, the TV game show he hosted in the 1970s and 1980s, was his most lucrative work.
