Tory backlash as one in five will be paying higher income tax rate by 2027

One in four teachers and one in eight nurses will be paying 40p rate in biggest tax rise since 1970s, experts warn

Rishi Sunak faces backlash over “stealth” tax hikes which will drag one in five taxpayers into the 40p rate of income tax within years, experts have warned.

The prime minister’s decision to freeze income tax thresholds means one in four teachers and more than one in eight nurses will be paying the higher income tax rate by 2027, analysis by the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank shows.

By 2027, the number of people paying income tax at 40 per cent or more will hit 7.8 million, the IFS said. That is almost four times as high as the share of adults paying higher rates in the early 1990s – when virtually no nurses and just one in sixteen teachers paid the higher rate.