So many missed the tax report quietly published by a Left-wing think-tank. It gives us a terrifying hint of Labour's upcoming Budget. I am spitting with rage: JEFF PRESTRIDGE

When I took a step back from full-time employment earlier this year, I vowed to enter the next stage of my life with grace.Yet semi-retirement has been a struggle – an issue I wrote about a month ago – as I have wrestled with getting the right 'work-life' balance.The wrestling is ongoing judged by the fact that my partner has now decided to call me Victor Meldrew after the grumpy character in the classic 1990s BBC sitcom One Foot In The Grave. My propensity to moan since 'semi-retiring' has gone up a notch or six.She's right to give me the Victor Meldrew label. For example, a week ago, I was apoplectic after CrossCountry Trains cancelled the service that should have taken me to the Hawthorns, home of West Bromwich Albion Football Club, to see my team play (beat) Burnley. When Leonie rang to see how the train journey was going, I was instead in my garden furiously watering my dahlias.I growled down the phone like an agitated bear, causing neighbours to stare in a state of trepidation.'Bloody CrossCountry Trains, they're hopeless,' I shouted. 'They don't care about customers. Owned by private equity.'Leonie quietly terminated the call. I phoned back immediately to apologise. Only later did it emerge that the train's cancellation wasn't an isolated incident, but a result of a power cut at CrossCountry's control centre in Birmingham. My partner has now decided to call me Victor Meldrew after the grumpy character in the classic 1990s BBC sitcom One Foot In The Grave, writes Jeff PrestridgeYet this Victor Meldrew meltdown was not a patch on the one two days later after I read the latest research issued by the Left-wing (and Labour-loving) Institute for Public Policy Research titled 'Taxing Times' – an apt title given we are burdened with the highest taxes since the 1940s.This time I was spitting blood. 'I don't believe it,' I bellowed.The research, timed to shape Labour thinking ahead of the Budget in just under two months' time, starts well with author Ben Ansell describing the country's tax system as not fit for purpose and riddled with 'a great deal of complexity'.There will be few readers who disagree with the good professor on this point.But read on, as I did for nigh on 30 pages, and my persona turned into full-on Victor Meldrew mode.Why? It was because Ansell believes the path to a 'better' tax system lies in taxing the elderly until the pips squeak.Among his recommendations is the imposition of National Insurance (NI) contributions on those of us who have reached state pension age, but want to continue working for all kinds of reasons (financial necessity, the love of work, or – like me – a mix of the two).Currently, oldies like me are (rightly) exempt from NI as soon as our state pension kicks in. Author Ben Ansell is recommending the imposition of National Insurance contributions on those of who have reached state pension age but want to continue workingThere's more. Ansell says council tax and stamp duty on house purchases should be scrapped – and replaced with a wealth tax that rises in proportion to home values. Ansell also calls for taxes on capital gains from second home sales and shares to be pushed up in line with income taxes.Explaining his stance, he says the tax system has 'increasingly shifted responsibility towards younger workers while protecting many of those who have benefited most from decades of rising property and asset wealth'.Of course, we need to ensure the young can find worthwhile jobs and in time save enough to become homeowners. But that will not happen through taxing the elderly.It will come from a government pursuing policies that fuel economic growth. That means manufacturers having access to cheaper energy; high streets not blighted by crippling business rates; and Labour having the gumption and humility to reverse both its NI and regulatory assault on employers.If Labour does this, UK plc will start thriving again and employment will rise, giving the Government greater scope to cut taxes for the young – especially if it is accompanied by serious measures to tackle a ballooning benefits bill.Just as importantly, it will negate the need for Labour to resort to the ageist measures that Professor Ansell is recommending.For the record, professor, 'pensioners' like me have paid our NI dues and deserve the state pension that our contributions were designed to fund.Getting us to pay more NI post receipt of our state pension is simply not on – 'I can't believe it,' Ansell says.I trust Chancellor John Healey feels the same come the Budget on October 28.