Number of higher rate taxpayers doubles

 Number of top rate taxpayers doubles in 20 years

The proportion of Britons now paying the highest rates of tax is now one in six, up from one in 12 twenty years ago, with 1.5m middle earners dragged into the top brackets over the past five years. HMRC figures show nearly 5m people now pay either the 40% or 45% rate of income tax due to the failure of successive governments to increase the starting point of the 40% band in line with earnings. Sir Steve Webb, policy director at Royal London, said: “To double the number of people paying income tax at higher rates is to make a profound change to the tax system. Changes of this sort should be openly and honestly debated, not delivered by stealth.”

Source:   The Times (02/04/2018)