'Pensioners should never have been left worrying about tax on their state pension'

The Labour Party and Conservative Party have reiterated their commitment to the triple lock in the past week, but some won't feel the full impact of the annual state pension boost due to an ongoing freeze in tax thresholds.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt have frozen income tax bands until 2028, which will drag 1.6 million more pensioners into the tax net by 2027/28, according to House of Commons Library analysis commissioned by the Liberal Democrats.

Some 1.2 million pensioners have already started paying tax since the freeze began.

Paying tax on pension income is clearly of great concern to many pensioners, as the money they put away for their retirement is taxed because they breach the £12,570 personal allowance threshold.

Dozens and dozens of people have contacted GB News Money about being taxed on their pension, with many concerned about how HMRC will take the tax.

"It's ridiculous and scandalous," exclaimed one. Another branded it a "clear case of giving in one hand and taking away with the other".

As money expert Jasmine Birtles explained in our new pensions and retirement Q&A, the way in which pensioners pay tax will depend on their situation.

HMRC can arrange to adjust the tax coding of a person's pension income or earnings to collect the tax, while others may end up getting a simple assessment letter.

Some of these people have only just tipped into the basic rate tax band, and as the state pension rises over the coming years, more and more people are set to be dragged into paying the levy.

I don't think pensioners and low income earners should have ever been put in this position.

The whole point of introducing the triple lock in 2011 was to pull up the state pension to a liveable level.

But with the full new state pension now standing at £11,500, Britons face being taxed on their state pension in the near future.

Some people, such as those who have reduced their tax-free allowance by claiming marriage allowance, are already being taxed on their state pension.

I think the Government is very quick to celebrate its triple lock policy, but by taxing pensioners on it, they're defeating the point of it.

It is giving with one hand, and taking some of it away with another.

Pensioners should never have been left worrying about being taxed on their state pension.

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The commitment to the triple lock suggests the Government does not think the state pension is at a liveable level yet.

So why are they taking some of it away through tax, at the same time as trying to increase it?

I think they should end this looming state pension tax headache and scrap the freeze to the personal allowance - which is currently stuck at £12,570 until 2028 - now.