Income tax hikes for the UK – what Brits really think
After weeks of suggestions that Rachel Reeves would increase the basic rate of income tax in this month’s budget, with 77% of Britons expecting the tax to go up, it’s now being reported that the government is no longer considering this option.
Given the expectation of an increase and the wider unpopularity of the government, some had argued that the guaranteed public outrage means the government might as well go for a bigger increase than a smaller one. So how much difference is there between differing increases in the basic rate?
To test this theory, a new YouGov survey asked a random third of respondents whether they would support or oppose one of three different increases in the basic rate of income tax.
Asking them individually rather than together eliminates the possibility of respondents being more likely to oppose greater increases merely because they are relatively larger.
The results show that overall sentiment becomes more negative the greater the increase in the basic rate.
Nearly two-thirds of Britons (64%) are opposed to a 1p increase in the basic rate from 20% to 21%. Just 25% of the public are in favour of this measure, which would be expected to raise £7bn for the Treasury.
Around three-quarters of Britons (75-76%) would be opposed to larger increases of 2.5p or 5p, with just 16% of Britons saying they support a 22.5% basic rate and only 12% being in favour of a 25% rate.
Most Britons oppose any increase in the basic rate of income tax, but smaller increases are less unpopular
Labour, Lib Dem or Green voters are the most open to any increase in the basic rate, with 33-36% of them supporting an increase of 1p, compared to 25% of those who backed the Conservatives last year and 15% who voted for Reform UK.
However, even with this smaller increase, at least a majority (54%) of any party’s voters are opposed to a hike.
Larger increases are less popular across the board. Only 18-19% of Labour, Lib Dem or Green voters would support a 5p increase in the basic rate, alongside 11% of Conservatives and 6% of Reform UK voters.
