Alex Chalk MP has welcomed new figures showing further cuts to income tax announced this week by the Chancellor will take an estimated 2,259 low-earners out of paying income tax altogether, as well as reducing income tax for 53,163 people, helping working people keep more of what they earn.
In this week’s Budget, the Chancellor announced that the personal allowance – set to reach £11,000 from April this year – will rise again to £11,500 from April 2017, meaning a typical basic rate taxpayer will be paying over £1,000 less in income tax than in 2010.
The Chancellor also announced that the threshold for the higher rate of income tax would increase from the £43,000 it is set to rise to this April, to £45,000 in April 2017 – a tax cut of over £400. This will lift over half a million people on middle incomes – people who should never have been paying the higher rate – out of the higher rate tax band altogether.
As a result of these changes, over 31 million people will see their income tax cut compared to this year, while 1.3 million of the lowest paid will be taken out of income tax altogether.
Alex commented:
‘It’s only right that people should be helped to keep more of what they’ve worked hard to earn.
‘That’s why income tax is being cut at the same time as reducing the deficit. This move will lift an estimated 2,259 people in Cheltenham out of paying income tax altogether at the same time as cutting taxes for over 31 million people across the country.
‘This is the path that has delivered us one of the strongest economies in the world. In the face of risks in the global economy, it is the path we must continue on to provide a secure future for the next generation of Cheltonians.’