Is the reaction to national insurance hikes justified?

It should probably come as no surprise that what the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, once described as “a tax on jobs” has turned out to be... a tax on jobs.

- SEAN O'GRADY

Her decision in the Budget to raise up to £25bn from an increase in employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) has obviously proved controversial.

A heated but largely inconclusive debate has surrounded the question of whether the move violates Labour’s manifesto promise not to raise taxes for “working people”. But now the change is coming under sustained attack from a number of sectors with tight profit margins, where the employment of lower-paid and/or part-time workers means an immediately higher tax bill for the employers.

In particular, the “secondary threshold” – the level at which employers become liable to pay national insurance on each employee’s salary – will come down from £9,100 per year to £5,000 per year. This is presenting notable difficulties in the health sector...

Who is complaining?