I think all politicians are the same, irrespective of which Party they represent - even the ones that go into politics, thinking they can change the world, realise how difficult it is to change the status quo and end up as self-serving as the rest of them.
Before we came to Spain, my wife thought she'd thoroughly researched all the angles, but since moving here, we've discovered:
- In 2015, David Cameron did a deal with the Spanish Government which allows Spain's Agencia Tributaria (Tax Authority) to take UK Government pensions into account when calculating the tax band we sit in. Bear in mind that these types of pensions have to, by Law, be taxed in the UK and, under the Dual Taxation Agreement between the UK and Spain, we're not supposed to be taxed on the same asset twice - BUT taking my pension into account in Spain pushes me into a higher tax bracket, so I am, effectively, being taxed twice.
- The UK Government also made changes to calculating our UK old age pensions. In January 2016, using the calculator on the Gov.UK website, both my wife and I, with 41 and 43 years uninterrupted, full NI contributions repectively, had paid more than enough to qualify for the full state pension. A similar calculation my wife carried out in May 2016 showed us both having a shortfall of 2 years each. When she phoned the National Insurance department to query how the Government's own calculator could make this mistake, she was told that the Government had made changes to the NI calculations and so yes, we did indeed have a 2 year shortfall. She queried it again, because our financial advisor had even congratulated her on the level of contributions she had made over the course of her 41 year career. Surely he would have known about the upcoming changes due to take effect in April 2016? The response? "The Government didn't publicise it much...."! She was also told that the qualifying period had dropped from 40 years to 35 years, so with a 2 year shortfall, they have effectively wiped off 10 years of each of our contributions. So having worked all our adult lives with no career breaks and paying more than our fair share into the system, thinking we could reap the rewards of our hard work by retiring a little early, we now have no way of making up the shortfall, other then returning to work in the UK. And the final insult? The NI department said we could pay for the 2 years shortfall by way of a lump sum payment (about £1,600 each), but if they've made a mistake and we overpay, we won't be entitled to a refund!
So if you're ever tempted to say, "Spain....they're always changing the rules", I'm afraid the UK is exactly the same