Frozen thresholds are carving out income with nearly 700,000 extra higher rate taxpayers in a single tax year, while top rate payers set to pass one million mark, offficial figures from HMRC show
The number of higher rate taxpayers is on track to hit 7.70m in the current tax year according to the latest HMRC figures released today, up from 7.29m in 2025-26, and a huge two million increase in just three years.
Illustrating the stark impact of fiscal drag, the higher rate number was up by 51% from 5.76m in the 2023-24 tax year.
Meantime, top rate taxpayer numbers are up to 893,000, with this figure set to soar to 1.29m by March 2027, up 44% from just three years ago. This has been exacerbated by the lowering of the additional rate threshold to £125,140 for starting to pay 45% tax.
Inflation and the cost of living crisis has bitten across all sections of the population and the heavy tax burden is just one factor contributing to the difficulties.
