For pen­sion­ers earn­ing above $7,500 a month, the Gov­ern­ment’s pledge of tax-free pri­vate pen­sions was sup­posed to take ef­fect from Jan­u­ary 1, 2026.

In­stead, three months in­to the year, those re­tirees are still pay­ing a 25 per cent tax on in­come they were told would be ex­empt, tight­en­ing an al­ready strained ex­is­tence.

The Busi­ness Guardian reached out to sev­er­al pen­sion­ers to gath­er their views. Mar­garet Lewis, a 68-year-old re­tired cler­i­cal su­per­vi­sor, had done the cal­cu­la­tions when the mea­sure was an­nounced.