Stealth tax raid equivalent to a 10% rise in income tax The Chancellor’s freeze on income tax thresholds could drag 4m more people into paying 40% or more on their earnings by 2028. Calculations by the broker Interactive Investor show that someone earning £20,000 today will have to pay £3,762 in income tax and National Insurance by 2028. If officials increased the income tax rate from 20% to 30% instead, the taxpayer would pay £3,796. If thresholds rose in line with inflation, a worker on £20,000 would pay almost £1,000 less in tax. A taxpayer on £50,000 today will have to pay £16,493 in tax by 2028 – roughly the same as if income tax were to go up by 5%. If thresholds increased in line with inflation, the worker would pay almost £2,000 less at £14,568. Alice Guy of Interactive Investor comments: “Many families are fighting hard to make ends meet as costs rise, but fiscal drag means that the odds are increasingly stacked against them.”