Frozen thresholds drive up tax burden The most eye-catching measures announced in the Chancellor’s Autumn statement were a 2% cut in National Insurance, from 12% to 10%, and making the “full expensing” capital allowance regime permanent. The National Insurance cuts will benefit 27m working people and cost £10bn a year by 2028-29, while the full expensing of capital investment will increase business investment in the economy by about £20bn a year within a decade, according to the Chancellor. However, the broad impression remains that the tax burden is soaring leaving people worse off. The freezing of tax thresholds will mean that by 2028, 4m more people will be paying 20% income tax, 3m more will be in the 40% band and 400,000 more will be paying 45% - that’s according to the OBR. Those threshold freezes are expected to bring in almost £44.6bn a year by 2028 – dwarfing the £9bn cut to NICs.