Dénia
October 31, 2016
I was fascinated to read the letter from Mrs Oliver in your edition published 28th October and really don’t understand her points. However, two things crop up which really annoy me and I felt compelled to reply through this column!
On the subject of “Why should the British public pay for us and our lifestyle”, in a clear reference to the fuel allowance – this is really emotive and perhaps Mrs Oliver will take note of the fact that “they” are not paying for “us”; rather, we paid for us through years and years of National Insurance and tax contributions. Now, and in retirement, we are claiming what we believe to be our right – we are still British citizens by the way!
Secondly, I notice Mrs Oliver is somewhat “coy” over her own status? She plainly has a home here but refers to trips back to the UK to see her family doctor. This indicates that she is possibly one of the many who play both camps against each other. We know of so many who claim to be here for less than six months when they spend the majority of their year here, yet still pop back to UK for NHS treatment, paying nothing into the Spanish pot incidentally!
When will the respective tax authorities of both Spain and UK get their act together and start flushing these people out! We pay a dramatically inflated tax bill each year for the right to live in Spain and do so happily.
We are zero burden on our UK homeland – another reason why we believe the fuel allowance is fairly due to us. I wonder if Mrs Oliver is aware that legal expats are denied any NHS benefits when visiting family and friends back in UK.
Graham and Linda Powell
