you work and pay taxes, then retire, why do you pay taxes again on your private pension ?????

You work and pay into a private pension and get taxed. Why when you retire are you expected to pay tax again on your private pension, this pension was a choice deduction from your wages, but do not understand why you have to pay tax twice... Just to clarify.....the question is about my parents who sacrificied every month to pay into a private pension ....sorry for opening up old wounds but it is a disgrace.....makes you think..maybe better off not working..eh

Public Comments

1. Two words: Labour Government
2. Greedy Government. its worse because you work and you pay tax, then you buy a pension and insuarance, and you pay tax on that, then when it pays out you pay tax. and then the things you buy with your pension money have tax applied to them.
3. In the US, the portion that you already paid taxes on will not be taxed again. If you contributed to the plan with pre-tax money, then the distribution will be taxable. It's actually pretty fair.
4. It is the same if you buy or sell at auction .....you pay vat.either way.
5. we are taxed on everthing first were taxed on our wages then were taxed on everything we buy with our wages, we pay huge amounts of interests on mortgages to buy a home to live in thats if we can afford to get a mortgage after we've been taxed on everything else! Then were taxed on our pensions and finally were taxed on the money we have saved to leave something for our loved ones when we die even tho we've already payed tax on it in the first place!! The goverment just takes and takes and takes!!
6. ya tell me about it in the mean time the gov hands out free ride money to lazy useless drug addicts that have been diagnoise with some bs problem and they don't pay taxes on that money and they get more than me after I worked for 40 yrs man did you just open up an old wound
7. I am a 'pensioner' and have often wondered the same thing myself. Of course, the two sources of income are completely different and we do get higher tax allowances as we get older. You should put up for prime minister - you've got my vote to start with !
8. u dont pay twice. u pay three times. you will have to pay tax when your parents die because youve inherited it. it stinks, doesnt it. by the time youve paid all the tax theres not much left. im in the same boat as you. my dads saved all his life & done things the right way. now most of his money will go to the tax man instead of his family!!!
9. You don't pay twice. The money your parents put into the PPP would have had the tax they paid earning it added on to it before it was invested. ie if they paid £100 per month the investment would have received £122 They could also have taken 25% of the plan value as a tax free lump sum. As this was a company scheme their taxable pay would have been reduced by the amount of the contributions. This would mean they did not pay tax on it. Look at one of their pay slips, you will see that taxable pay is lower than the gross pay for that period.