George Osborne is planning to lift the burden of National Insurance on millions of workers in his final Budget before the General Election , senior Labour figures believe . Shadow Cabinet ministers suspect the Chancellor will seek to make a ‘ game-changing ’ tax announcement later this month that could be funded by scaling back tax relief to wealthy pensioners . Labour has been surprised by the Tories ’ muted criticism of its plans , announced last week , to use tax reforms to fund a proposed cut in tuition fees from £9,000 to £6,000 a year . Shadow Cabinet ministers suspect Chancellor George Osbrone ( pictured ) will seek to make a ‘ game-changing ’ tax announcement later this month that could be funded by scaling back tax relief to pensioners . The party said it would cut the amount people can pay into a pension and get tax relief on over their lifetime from £1.25million to £1million , and reduce the amount that can be paid in to a pension with tax relief each year from £40,000 to £30,000 . Mr Osborne has already reduced the lifetime allowance , which used to be £1.5million , arguing that it unfairly benefited the most wealthy . A Labour source said a cut to £1million would fund a significant reduction in the threshold for employees ’ National Insurance contributions . Workers currently pay National Insurance on earnings above £153 a week , or £7,956 a year , at a rate of 12 per cent , but it kicks in at a far lower level than the income tax threshold , which will increase to £10,600 in April . Cutting National Insurance would ensure that 1.2million workers who earn too little to gain from the increase in the personal allowance – many of them women with part-time jobs – would benefit . Tory sources insisted senior members of the Coalition had not yet met to agree measures ahead of the Budget on March 18 . The Chancellor yesterday hailed a report from economists saying living standards in Britain will finally return to pre-recession levels . Mr Osborne said the verdict from the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies had ‘ put to bed ’ several Labour myths , saying incomes had been restored to pre-crisis levels , the wealthiest have paid the most towards deficit reduction and inequality in society has been reduced . Cathy Jamieson ( pictured ) Labour ’ s shadow financial secretary to the Treasury , said : ‘ We need a recovery that reaches kitchen tables across Britain , not one which has left working people worse off ' He said the findings showed Britain had ‘ reached a major milestone in the recovery , but it ’ s not the end of the journey ’ . ‘ We ’ ve got to secure a national recovery and mustn ’ t abandon the progress we have made at risk by abandoning the plan that has got us this far , ’ he told BBC Radio 4 . He said families had ‘ paid a very heavy price for the mistakes that led to the great recession ’ under Labour . ‘ But the picture you hear , particularly from my political opponents , of the British economy is not one reflected in this independent report - indeed quite the opposite . ‘ What they show is that Britain is growing , that incomes are rising , that the richest have made the biggest contribution , inequality has fallen ... Britain is fundamentally in a better position than it was five years ago . ‘ If you look at the rate of progress in the report today , if you look at incomes , they should be higher in 2015/16 than they were in 2010/11 , so on that measure as well we will have made progress. ’ Cathy Jamieson , Labour ’ s shadow financial secretary to the Treasury , said : ‘ We need a recovery that reaches kitchen tables across Britain , not one which has left working people worse off . ’
George Osborne may make 'game-changing ' tax announcement soon . Would be funded by scaling back tax relief to wealthy pensioners . Osborne has already reduced the lifetime allowance , which used to be £1.5million - arguing that it unfairly benefited the most wealthy .