At present, as Bimal Jalan, the central-bank governor, recently pointed out, large public borrowing and the high returns that are offered savers keep interest rates high.

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High-percentage savers also save on borrowing costs since they are able to pay cash for things, such as automobiles, rather than getting loans.

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On top of that there will be (for high-bracket savers) a 3.8% investment tax surcharge plus a clawback of deductions that effectively adds 1.2 percentage points to the stated tax rate.

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There is high unemployment and ordinary savers are getting close to zero returns, while many young people and not so young people are crushed by non-dischargeable student debt.

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When the Northern Rock bank went bust that year it became obvious that this limit was not high enough to reassure savers, who were then staging a crippling run on the bank.

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Luxembourg argues that German tax rates are too high, so that savers are tempted abroad a logic that the German government, which wants to cut its marginal tax rates, seems to have partly accepted.

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High inflation is also damaging for savers.

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This week, several banks raised interest rates for diligent savers taking advantage of so-called high-yield savings accounts.

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IFS. One is simply that many non-savers, such as single parents and young couples with children, have low incomes and high outgoings, and therefore are in no position to save.

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