IF WG Davis (HAS, Jan 7) thinks that I believe that you stop paying taxes when you retire I am sorry that he has misunderstood me.

I was merely having a go at Malcolm Pratt’s idea (HAS, Dec 30) that life is so rosy under a Labour government in such disarray.

I have been working, paying tax and National Insurance for more than 40 years so far and will always pay tax in one form or another, on my Army pension which uses up all my allowances.

If Mr Davis thinks I am having a go at pensioners freeloading off taxpayers then he is wrong as in not so many years I will be one.

I sympathise with anybody who has worked hard all their life just to see the taxman take away their hard-earned cash.

I would like to retire myself, but at the moment I could not afford to do so even with the benefits that are received. It is just that when Mr Pratt wrote to HAS I was also angry at the way he painted the picture of retirement – especially under a Labour government.

Des Murphy, Crook, Co Durham.