Team Blitz India
LONDON: Around 29 million workers and self-employed people in the United Kingdom will benefit from tax cuts introduced from April 6, according to a statement from HM Treasury.
Since Autumn 2023, National Insurance Contributions (NICs) for workers have been slashed by a third, with a longer-term ambition to end the unfair double tax on work and abolish employee and self-employed NICs altogether.
This is the largest cut to NICs in history, the statement added. “Hard work is one of my core values, and the progress we have made on the economy means we can reward work with a tax cut worth £900 for the average earner,” said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. “This marks the next step in our plan to end the unfairness of double taxation of work by abolishing National Insurance in the long term,” he added.
Since January, the main rate of employee National Insurance has been cut for 27 million workers from 12 per cent to 8 per cent, saving the average employee on £35,400 over £900 a year. Over 2 million self-employed people will benefit from the main rate of Class 4 NICs being cut from 9 per cent to 6 per cent alongside the abolition of the requirement to pay Class 2 NICs – simplifying the tax system and saving an average selfemployed person on £28,000 over £650 a year.
According to Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt, the record tax cuts show that the government’s economic plan is working, “because of the progress we’ve made we’re putting hundreds of pounds a year back into the pockets of working people across the country”.
The statement said that the cuts were possible because the economy has turned a corner, “thanks to the government’s decisive action to bring inflation down from 11.1 per cent to 3.4 per cent and ensure borrowing costs start to fall”.
The tax cuts – worth £20 billion a year – mean that those individuals on average salaries will now pay less in personal taxes than they would in any other G7 country.
