Nearly 1.5m people to be dragged into higher-rate tax Official projections by HMRC obtained by the Telegraph reveal almost 1.5m people (which will include many people in the motorsport sector) will be dragged into paying higher-rate tax over the next five years. An extra 1,130,000 workers including many in the motorsport sector will be hit with the 40p rate as a result of Jeremy Hunt freezing income-tax thresholds while, 301,000 top earners face being bumped up to the 45p bracket because pay rises will see their salaries rise above £125,000 a year. Rachael Griffin, at wealth management firm Quilter, said: “These figures illustrate HMRC is well aware of the power of fiscal drag and exactly how many people they expect to be dragged into paying more tax due to the frozen thresholds. Over a million more people will be subject to higher-rate tax due to wage inflation and many of those may not feel wealthier as their salaries have simply kept up with inflation. This means that in real terms their buying power remains much the same, yet their salaries are taxed much more. Freezing income tax bands is a form of stealth tax as you'll end up paying considerably more tax during the time bands are frozen, which will be on top of higher energy and food costs.”