Sunak Told To Publish Taxes As 100,000 Pay Higher Rates

Thousands more taxpayers ended up paying higher rates between 2019-20 and 2020-21, according to new figures that come as Rishi Sunak faces renewed calls to publish his own returns.

- Alastair Jamieson

The number of higher-rate taxpayers increased by 100,000 between the two tax years, to 4 million, with an increase of £2.5bn-worth of tax to £64.9bn, according to HMRC figures. The number of additional rate taxpayers also rose to 433,000 over the same period, an increase of 12,000.

The income tax liabilities of additional rate taxpayers increased by £2.8bn, to £63.7bn, mainly driven by salary increases, HMRC said. The prime minister promised to release his tax returns during his unsuccessful Tory leadership campaign last summer, in an attempt to put transparency at the heart of his bid. He faced continued pressure to release the documents when it emerged Tory former minister Nadhim Zahawi settled an estimated £4.7m bill with HMRC while he was chancellor.