Record number of Brits now paying highest rates of tax

The proportion of Britons paying the highest rates of tax is now at a record level and double that of 20 years ago.

According to latest figures released by HMRC, almost five million people - one in six earners - now pay either the 40% or 45%ate of income tax, up from one in 12, 20 years ago.

The research showed that the 400,000 people who pay the top rate of tax at 45% now contribute almost as much to the exchequer as the 25 million basic-rate taxpayers combined.

HMRC has estimated that the rise to the starting threshold for the 40% band to £45,000 in the current tax-year is likely to see the number of higher-rate taxpayers fall back slightly but the number will be more than two and a half times higher than the 1.7 million people who paid the top rate in 1994.

    Share Story:

Recent Stories


Helping landlords make their cash work harder
MoneyAge Editor, Adam Cadle, talks to Family Building Society BDMs, Arif Kara and Nathan Waller, about the resilient BTL market, the wide variety of landlords that Family Building Society caters for, and how niche products like an Offset mortgage can help improve cashflow.

An outlook on the BTL market
MoneyAge Editor, Adam Cadle, talks to Landbay senior regional account manager, Alex Witham, about current market sentiment within the BTL space and Landbay’s success in this area

Empowering advisers: A decade of education in Later Life Lending with Air Academy
Michael Griffiths is joined by chairman of Air Club and former founder and CEO of Air, Stuart Wilson, and head of the Air Academy, Daniel Holden, to look back on a decade of business focused learning at the Air Academy.


FREE E-NEWS SIGN UP

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive breaking news and other industry announcements by email.

  Please tick here to confirm you are happy to receive third party promotions from carefully selected partners.