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Why The Times is calling for Jeremy Hunt to end stealth taxes
A radical shake-up of our system is needed to stop millions of workers being sneakily dragged into higher rate-bands
GETTY IMAGES; ADOBE STOCK
The Times
Frozen thresholds, stingy allowances and punitive tax rules for higher earners mean that more people are paying more tax than ever — £788.8 billion in 2022-23, an increase of 10.2 per cent on the year before.
Between April and September alone, £23 billion more was collected by HM Revenue & Customs than in the same period last year.
Meanwhile households are struggling to meet basic living costs as mortgage rates, energy bills and food prices rise.
The government is adding to this pain through “fiscal drag”, an insidious way of collecting more tax by freezing the salary thresholds at which you start paying higher rates. As wages rise, workers are dragged into higher bands, effectively losing much of the benefit of higher salaries.
• Robert
