Tax-efficient pension contributions offered via salary sacrifice should be abolished in order to create a flatter society.

This is according to Michael Johnson, research fellow policy group at the Centre for Policy Studies and former secretary of the Conservative Party Economic Competitiveness Policy Group. Speaking in a panel debate during the first day of the Employee Benefits Pension Summit 2011, Johnson said: “It is a blatant tax arbitrage. The same should go for all inheritance tax and trusts. It should all be banned.”

In response, Miles Buckinghamshire, chairman of the board of trustees for Barnardo’s Pension Scheme, said: “It is rather like talking about [having] a flat earth and [the notion] of a flat earth went some time ago. If you just take a hatchet to it, it will all end in tears. You have to be really careful about removing all these things without thinking about the implications.”

Debbie Lovewell-Tuck is a business journalist with 20 years’ experience specialising in pay, reward and HR. She joined Employee Benefits as a reporter in 2003, before becoming editor in 2015. Debbie is also responsible for editorial content across Employee’ Benefits events, including Employee Benefits Live and the Employee Benefits Awards, as well as hosting Employee Benefits’ webinars.View full profile

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