Number of Britons paying income tax has risen by 4.5 MILLION since 2010 as 'bruising' tax burden soars


The number of people paying income since has risen by 4.5 million since 2010, new research from the Taxpayers' Alliance has shown.

The number has surged from 31 million to 35.5 million, an increase of 4.5 million.


This comes despite former Prime Minister and current Foreign Secretary David Cameron claiming that lifting millions of people out of income tax was "one of the proudest things" he did while in Government.

The remarks were made after the then Coalition government lifted the personal allowance from £6,475 to £10,000.


Jeremy Hunt

Yet 1.7 million more people are paying the basic rate of income tax, with the total number increasing from 26.8 million to 28.5 million since 2010.

Since thresholds were frozen in 2021/22, an additional 1.1 million are paying the basic rate of income tax and an additional 1 million are paying the higher rate.

At the 2022 Autumn Statement, Jeremy Hunt announced that the freeze on income tax thresholds would continue until April 2028.


Since the freeze was imposed, the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber and Wales are set to be the UK regions with the largest percentage increases in the total number of people paying income tax and in the number of people paying the basic rate.

The largest percentage increases in the number of people paying the higher rate were Wales, the North East and Northern Ireland.

By contrast, London saw the smallest percentage increase of people paying income tax since 2021/22, both in terms of the basic rate, the higher rate and the additional rate.


Darwin Friend, research director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "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.

“Ministers must use the budget to give taxpayers the income tax relief they desperately need.”


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A spokesperson for the Treasury said: “After borrowing £400 billion to protect lives and livelihoods throughout the pandemic and Putin’s energy shock, we had to take difficult decisions to help pay down the debt.

“However, with inflation more than halved and because of the progress we have made, we have cut taxes for hard-working people, saving the average employee £450 a year, and our tax burden remains lower than any major European economy.”



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