Tax bill in retirement is £80,000

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A single pensioner or elderly couple pay almost £4,500 every year in tax, nearly 30 per cent of their income.

If they retire at 65 and live for another 18 years, the bill comes to £79,380.

Many pensioners face a 'triple whammy' of taxes - paid throughout their working life, during their retirement and after they die.

The research, from the financial services company MetLife, includes direct and indirect taxes.

Spokesman Rosy Atal said: "For many people, retirement is a time when finances can be stretched. And many may assume that once we have retired we no longer have to concern ourselves with tax."

In an average pensioner household, the biggest tax bill is for VAT at around £2,600 a year.

They will also pay an average of £1,060 a year in income tax, £720 in council tax and National Insurance of £30 - an annual total of £4,410.

A Treasury spokesman said: "This analysis takes no account of the support the Government provides to pensioners such as winter fuel payments, free prescriptions and free TV licences.

"The fact is that measures introduced by this Government mean pensioner households are on average £1,500 a year better off in real terms than ten years ago."