As per new research commissioned by the party, when the stealth tax freeze expires in 2027-28, the tax threshold will have increased to £15,990
Pensioners have been warned they could be dragged into paying income tax in the future.
The Liberal Democrats claimed more than one million pensioners could be paying income tax by 2027-28 because of the Government’s stealth tax freeze.
As per new research commissioned by the party, when the stealth tax freeze expires in 2027-28, the tax threshold will have increased to £15,990.
The personal allowance threshold, the rate at which people start paying tax, has been frozen at its April 2021 level of £12,570.
As per analysis from the House of Commons Library, an estimated 1.2 million pensioners will be dragged into paying income tax in 2024-25.
By 2027-28, 1.6 million additional pensioners will be paying income tax compared to if the personal allowance had been increased in line with inflation.
Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Sarah Olney commented: These stark figures reveal the stealth tax bombshell facing pensioners under this Conservative government.
She said: Older people who have worked hard and contributed all their lives are now being clobbered with years of unfair tax hikes.
She added: Jeremy Hunt’s pensioner-punishing Budget will not be forgotten come the next election. The Conservative Party faces a reckoning at the ballot from older voters sick of being taken for granted.
On Monday, it was revealed that HMRC is concerned that its customer service helpline will soon be overwhelmed by the millions of people across the UK being hit by stealth taxes.
A Treasury spokesman defended the decision on the freezing of tax thresholds.
He told the Telegraph: After providing hundreds of billions of pounds to protect lives and livelihoods throughout the pandemic and Putin’s energy shock, we had to take some difficult decisions to help pay it back.
The spokesman added: Now the economy is turning a corner, we have cut National Insurance by a third, meaning that, along with above-inflation increases to personal tax thresholds since 2010, we have saved the average earner over £1,500 compared to what they otherwise would have paid.