|
New research from the TPA eggheads has revealed the shocking surge in the number of income tax payers. 4.5 million more people are now paying income tax compared to 2010 when the Conservatives came to power.
|
|
Our findings laid bare the impact of frozen tax thresholds, with most of the increase since 2010 coming in the last few years. In 2023-24, there is set to have been almost 2.5 million more people paying income tax than in 2021-22 when the thresholds for the personal allowance and higher rate were frozen. In 2014, then prime minister (and now foreign secretary), Lord Cameron described lifting millions of people out of income tax as “one of the proudest things I have done in government” - I wonder what he’d say now…
The largest percentage increases in the number of new taxpayers since 2021-22 are in Yorkshire and the Humber, Wales and the North East. Meanwhile, the South East saw the biggest increase in the number of people with 348,000 more income tax payers followed by the North West with 279,000 more!
These latest revelations dominated the media, with coverage in the Times, Daily Telegraph, Mail, and Express. Our head of research, Darwin Friend, explained: “Taxpayers in every corner of the United Kingdom are struggling with the bruising impact of tax rises and threshold freezes. The transformation of Britain into a high-tax, low-growth economy has hit almost every household, from Edinburgh to Eastleigh and Cardiff to Colchester.”
|
|
|
Speaking from Lancaster, in the heart of the North West, TPA researcher, Jonathan Eida, called on Jeremy Hunt to unfreeze thresholds or cut headline rates in his upcoming budget. Check out the full video here. With just over three weeks until the Chancellor takes to the despatch box, time’s running out to make your voice heard. If you’ve not already done so, sign our petition here and share it with your friends and family. Together, we can win!
|
|
|
TaxPayers' Alliance in the news
|
|
|
Scrap inheritance tax
Regularly branded Britain’s ‘most hated tax’, inheritance tax was in the news this week as it emerged that HMRC is investigating over 2,000 families for not paying enough. Taking to the GB News studio, our head of campaigns, Elliot Keck, demanded the levy be scrapped all together.
|
|
|
As Elliot explained, it is not simply the number of estates affected by the tax but the individuals left to pay the bill that’s important: “We talk about four per cent of estates, that’s actually rapidly growing but it affects far more people than four per cent. It’s the spouse, the children, the nieces, the nephews, the friends.” Time to bury the death tax!
|
|
Pyjama-clad mandarins
Despite repeated calls from ministers, civil servants don’t seem to have got the message that it’s time to return to the office. This week it emerged that more than half of home office mandarins were still working from home.
|
|
|
Our chief executive, John O’Connell, rightly told Daily Mail readers: “Too many departments sit empty, while performance continues to slide.” It’s time these bureaucrats in pyjamas were told some home truths.
|
|
How a new race equality bill could hit councils
As the Labour Party plots a new race equality bill, in an op-ed for the Telegraph, Elliot has taken a look at what this might mean for local councils, particularly given the impact of the 2010 Equalities Act.
|
|
|
As Elliot argues, Labour’s latest plans don’t spell good news for local councils or their residents: “This policy will only cause further division. Every small discrepancy will be seized on by an increasingly belligerent and unreasonable left, desperate to paint this country as irredeemably racist… It will be taxpayers who pick up the pieces.” Click here to read the op-ed in full.
|
|
Barmy beer advice
With the Euros kicking off in Germany this summer, the foreign office has stepped in to give some advice to football loving Brits heading out for the tournament. Despite everything else that’s going on in the world, foreign office officials have taken time out to warn people of… the strength of German beer.
|
|
|
As I explained to the Sun: “Brits enjoying a beer in Berlin need no lectures from kill-joy civil servants. Taxpayers have had enough of pointless advice from pen pushers who think they know best.”
|
|
The undeniable link between tax and growth
In this week’s blog, John has taken a look at how our revelations about income tax feed into the high tax, low growth economy we currently have.
|
|
Drawing on our paper Taxes, growth and the tax burden, John rightly says: “The importance of a credible grip on debt, borrowing and spending should never be forgotten. But the evidence shows that tax is an important factor and any government serious about growth has to include bringing down the burden in its plan.”
|
|
In a bit of good news this week, we were pleased to learn that the NHS Rainbow Badge scheme is coming to an end due to a “ lack of funding.”
With NHS trusts too often claiming there’s ‘no fat left to trim’ whilst continuing to waste cash on pet projects, it’s good to see health officials finally cracking down on these pointless gimmicks.
|
|
Benjamin Elks
Grassroots Development Manager
|
|
|
|
|
