One in ten have over 100,000. Rich savers avoided 1.3 billion in tax every year from these schemes alone. Labour set up the system of Individual Savings Accounts. These allow a rich couple to stash away 140,000 over ten years and collect the interest free of all tax. Under New Labour it is regarded as a reward for virtuous investment and therefore not taxed-unlike the wages of a nurse or a train driver or a cleaner.
Government ministers say savings can be for everyone.
The real reason is that people simply do not have any money to put aside. In fact, people are borrowing more and more in a desperate attempt to stop their living standards sliding away. They are racking up debts to pay for their kids' clothes and shoes, to buy a cooker or a fridge or a car to get to work. But they fear the arrival of the bills in the post each morning. Even the lower figure amounts to 3,425 debt for every adult aged 18 to 65.