Pressure is mounting on the Chancellor to scrap his four-year freeze on income tax thresholds and to raise them in line with inflation instead. According to figures by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) more than nine million workers will be forced to pay more tax due to the freeze.
This comes on top of higher energy bills as well as other increases, including a 1.25 percent hike in National Insurance.
According to the CEBR analysis for the MailOnline, five million lower-paid workers will be pulled into the tax net over the next four years.
These current non-taxpayers will have to stump up 20 percent of a slice of their earnings.
However, CEBR deputy chairman Douglas McWilliams warned the “absurd” tax rise will drag four million more Britons into the 40 percent higher tax band.
He said: “It is absurd. This stealth tax rise should be reversed.”
Last year, the Chancellor halted rises on personal income tax allowances and thresholds from April this year until March 2026.
These are usually upgraded each year so that after-tax pay is not unfairly eroded due to inflation.