Treasury rakes in record amount of tax after Rishi Sunak's stealth raids

Chancellor's haul has soared after tax bands were frozen



The Treasury has raked in more tax than ever before, a year after the Chancellor froze the thresholds in a stealth tax raid.

Income tax, National Insurance, capital gains and inheritance taxes all hit record highs in 2021-22.

HM Revenue & Customs collected £718.2bn in taxes in the last tax year, up almost a quarter from the year before, provisional Government figures show. Tax receipts as a proportion of GDP are now at 30pc, up from 27pc last year.

The tax haul has risen every year since the Conservatives came to power under David Cameron’s 2010 coalition, bar 2020-21 when the pandemic struck and VAT was cut to just 5pc for the worst hit sectors of the economy.

It will pile yet further pressure on Rishi Sunak to cut taxes before the end of Parliament, as well as provide more help for families struggling with the cost of living, experts have said.

Mr Sunak has come under fire for insisting he believes in lower taxes while putting Britain on course to have the highest tax burden since the aftermath of the second world war.

In just two years the Chancellor has presided over an increase in corporation tax to 25pc from 19pc, a 1.25 percentage point increase in NI and dividend tax rates, and a five year stealth tax freeze in income tax bands and other personal allowances for capital gains and death duties.

The Chancellor said he took the decision "in support of public finances" and to help cover the vast amount of public money spent during the coronavirus crisis.

But Danielle Boxhall, of the lobby group Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: "With inflation rising, the Chancellor's tax break freeze is effectively a stealth tax on unsuspecting taxpayers already facing the highest tax burden in 70 years."