Record numbers of higher rate taxpayers

Record numbers in top tax bracketOfficial figures show that a record number of workers are paying the top 45% rate of income tax, with 440,000 people now charged the additional rate. This marks a 10% increase on the number recorded in 2018/19. The increase comes due to a decade-long freeze on the £150,000 starting threshold, which has been in place despite steady inflation. The data also shows that income tax payments have more than doubled in the past 10 years to almost £200bn, with it shown that 32.2m people will pay income tax this year, up from 31.6m in 2018/19. The report also reveals that in 2018/19, the Government pulled in £283m from the 7,130 pension savers who breached the £1,073,100 lifetime allowance. The figure marks a £26m increase on the total recorded the year before.