If I were Rachel Reeves, my absolute priority would be to incentivise high earners to work hard for as long as possible. After all, the 10 per cent of taxpayers with the largest incomes contribute over 60 per cent of all income tax receipts. So, keeping them onside and busy would, you’d have thought, be a no-brainer.

With Labour’s changes, high earners, far from concentrating on work, are instead busy calculating how they can reduce their net worth

But Reeves and co. clearly think differently, and have mandated that defined-contribution pensions, typical throughout the private sector, though not the public sector, will, from April 2027, be subject to inheritance tax. By doing so, they are actually encouraging high earners to retire early and contribute nothing to the exchequer at all.

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