Next time someone in the street tells you their tax burden is at its highest ever
Assuming they are not a higher earner, you can correct them with this analysis from the IFS, which actually shows the tax burden on low and middle earners is at historical lows while those on higher earners have risen dramatically - under the tories of all people.
“Average earners really are facing lower levels of direct taxation than they have in 50 years. And it is from average earners that higher-tax countries in western Europe get much of their extra revenue.
To see the truth of the historical claim, just look at how things have changed. The basic rate of income tax has come down from 35 per cent to 20 per cent over the past 50 years. The tax-free allowance is being squeezed, but it is still at historically high levels following big increases during the 2010s. And while, at 8 per cent, the main employee element of national insurance is higher than it was in the 1970s, it is lower than at any time since 1982. Someone on £35,000 today — about the average for those working full-time — faces an income tax and national insurance bill getting on for £2,000 lower than would someone on the same real earnings back in 2010. Just looking at changes enacted over this parliament, the national insurance cuts more than outweigh the income tax increases for middle earners, with gains peaking at around a handy £1,000 a year for anyone earning about £50,000. That is not a tax cut to be sniffed at.
While average earners have seen their tax bills fall, the reverse is true of high earners. Someone just about in the top 1 per cent of income tax payers, on £200,000, say, will be paying a good £10,000 a year more than in 2009. Our reliance on top earners has continued to grow. That top 1 per cent pay 29 per cent of all income tax now, up from 25 per cent in 2010 and 21 per cent at the turn of the century. Whisper it quietly, but this Tory government has taken a serious chunk out of the incomes of the 1 per cent.”