Covid and the climate crisis show why we need a new social contract between old and young

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/25/covid-climate-crisis-new-social-contract-old-young 

The problem is not one of intergenerational conflict which this article and the IFS keep peddling but of wealth and class. For the majority of pensioners reliant on stage pensions, their income is less than the tax threshold – £12.5k per year.

Over a million women pensioners live on our below the poverty line, often the result of long term caring responsibilities reducing their pension benefits. The real inequality which is rising due to covid is between the top earners and those in the bottom quartile and even more between those with wealth, often inherited, which is largely untaxed and those reliant on earnings from work which is heavily taxed.

The richest 1000 people in the UK have seen their wealth triple since 2008 with little of this rise subject to tax. We need intergenerational solidarity between young and old to demand fair taxation for all sources of money and wealth and a redistribution of benefits to address all those regardless of age who are in a desperate and growing need