Dr. Nat O'Connor:

For example, the pension tax relief is currently available at the marginal rate. Only one in six earners, the highest earners, pay any tax at 41% and only they can get any relief at 41%. If one has a standardised tax relief so that tax reliefs are available at the standard rate, most income taxpayers will benefit. Of course, not everybody earns enough to pay income tax and those on part-time work, very low pay or couples where there is only one earner on low pay might not benefit from that 20% relief, and there are issues in that regard. Most workers do not benefit from the tax relief at 41%, which is why 80% of the benefit goes to the top 20% of income earners.