Wednesday 1 February 2012

Initial caps?

National Insurance? Income Tax? State Pension?

What's the proper way to write these terms? It seems there's widespread institutional acceptance that reference to national insurance (and often income tax, also) always uses initial capitals. Surely these should not have initial caps? I have heard the argument that the practice (at least with national insurance) arises from the correct capitalisation when the acronym is used (NI or NIC for contributions), which is then reverse-engineered to retain the capitals. What about the state pension, as well? I feel general discussion about the subject should use lower case, but perhaps the 'products' should be capitalised: Basic State Pension and Second State Pension. I would be grateful for any thoughts on the subject. Thanks