The prosecutor has been accused of using “hand mailing” to disguise the true cost of Boris Johnson’s national insurance foray into an online calculator.
An HMRC tax tool launched to help workers understand the impact of their shifting contributions to national insurance makes it seem false as if the government is reducing its bills instead of increasing them, they said. activists.
As of Wednesday, the threshold at which most people start paying national insurance for their income rises from £ 9,880 to £ 12,570 a year, a change hailed as the biggest tax cut of the decade by the first minister, although it increased. the tax rate in early 2022, which means the vast majority of workers are still paying more.
The government calculator says a worker with £ 50,000 will pay £ 4,958 in national insurance during the year until 5 July, from £ 4,968 in the previous 12 months, a £ 10 savings.
However, this overshadows the fact that Johnson raised the national insurance rate by 1.25 percentage points in April at the start of this fiscal year, meaning that in fact almost all workers are they will see worse because of the overall effect of the changes.
Critics said a fairer comparison would be between the current and previous fiscal year, so workers can see the combined effect of both type and threshold changes.
In the year from April 2022, a worker with £ 50,000 will pay £ 5,049 in national insurance. In the previous 12 months they would have paid £ 4,852. This comparison shows that instead of reducing their tax bill, the combined effect of the changes has cost them £ 197.
The figures are also flattered at other wage levels. Someone earning £ 70,000 would think their national insurance bill had risen by £ 178 according to the HMRC calculator, according to analysis by tax accounting firm Blick Rothenberg. A comparison of the tax year would show that they have £ 447 worse.
Those with £ 30,000, the calculator tells them they will save £ 197. However, they will only have £ 53 better over the tax year.