Tax payers in 40% band almost double
The number of people paying the highest level of income tax has almost doubled under Labour
The latest figures show that the number of tax payers in the 40% band and
above will have increased from just over 2m in 1997, to almost 3.7m by the end
of the 2008 financial year.
The city accountancy firm
UHY Hacker Young estimates
the majority of higher rate taxpayers would be at least £705.84 better off this
year if thresholds had been raised at the rate of wage inflation.
‘This is a stealth tax that has received very little attention,’ Roy Maugham,
UHY Hacker Young tax partner, said. Philip Hammond, shadow chief secretary to
the Treasury, said: ‘Gordon Brown is using fiscal drag, raising allowances and
thresholds by less than the rate of earnings growth to drag more and more people
into the top rate of tax.
Mike Warburton, senior
Grant Thornton
tax partner, said part of the increase could be explained by the fact that the
number of people working and paying tax had risen since Labour came to power in
1997.
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