Threshold freeze creates 4.4m more taxpayers

The number of people paying income tax has increased by 4.4m in three years due to the freeze on thresholds, according to HMRC data. The figures also show that the decision to freeze the personal threshold at £12,570 has pulled an additional 1.77m pensioners into the income tax bracket. There are currently an estimated 37.4m income tax payers, including 8.5m who are over state pension age. Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “The agonising pain inflicted by fiscal drag and cuts to dividend allowances has been laid bare, with millions more people paying tax, and billions of pounds more being raked in.” Rachael Griffin, tax and financial planning expert at wealth management firm Quilter, said the statistics from HMRC reveal the “continued impact of the Conservative government’s stealth tax agenda.”

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