Committing suicide or leaving your family with a huge tax bill. That's the grim 'choice' facing many elderly people in Britain if the Assisted Suicide Bill becomes law.
Vulnerable people worried about providing for their loved ones may seek to end their lives early, a pensions expert has warned.
The fact that deaths before the age of 75 are “treated more generously tax-wise” than those on or over the same age could be a “consideration” in someone asking for assisted suicide under Kim Leadbeater’s bill, industry commentator Andrew Tully said.
Tully explains: “This is a cliff-edge situation and a few days either way could have a significant financial impact. In some cases, it can be hundreds of thousands of pounds.
“When someone is terminally ill, consideration of tax and what money is passed on already adds extra stress, especially where complex family dynamics are involved.
“They’re at the end of their life, but at the same time are worried about providing for those they’ll leave behind.
“There’s not much planning you can really do at the moment, other than setting out who you want to receive benefits, because you either die after 75 or you don’t, but this could now become yet another consideration.”
According to The Daily Telegraph, in the event of someone dying at 75 years-of-age, a £500,000 pension pot could land someone a £225,000 tax bill if they opted to take their inheritance as a lump sum.
But, under current rules, if someone dies before age 75, their pension can be inherited free of tax.
Standard Life advisor Mike Ambery said: “We are yet to fully understand how the assisted dying legislation will work in practice, however, it is clearly vital that we create a system whereby wider financial considerations should not influence an individual’s decision.
“In future, assisted dying will need to be a factor in the legal consideration of a multitude of financial circumstances, including lump sum death payments and estate planning.”
'Choice'. It's the word they've used to promote abortion. So it's darkly fitting that a generation which legalised, tolerated and committed millions of abortions now faces suicide as they have to choose between death and taxes.