Thresholds: The Word Missing from Labour's Manifesto
Rachel Reeves says she’s kept every manifesto promise on tax. That’s a technicality and a push. Sure, the rates haven’t changed. But your tax bill has gone up anyway, and it will keep going up every year until 2031. The trick? The manifesto commitment was very focused on not increasing rates. It said nothing about at what point you pay those rates… aka the thresholds. Take the median full-time worker earning £39k (according to the ONS). Their effective tax rate is 21.7% today. By 2031, after six years of 3% salary raises 1, they’ll pay 23.4%. That’s roughly £2,665 more in total tax over that period, even though the rates never moved. ...