Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of additional individuals who (1) have become, or (2) are likely to become, liable to pay income tax in 2022/23 because of the freezing of (a) tax-free personal allowance, and (b) income tax thresholds.

The OBR’s 2022 Economic and Fiscal Outlook published the projected number of additional individuals brought into paying tax due to the freeze on the Personal Allowance and Income Tax thresholds as 575,000 in 2022-23.

The number of UK adults that are not liable to pay Income Tax because their total income is less than the Personal Allowance can be estimated with the following two figures:

• The ONS population projection for the number of UK adults (aged 16 and over) in 2022 is around 55 million.

• The total number of individual Income Tax payers is estimated by HMRC to be 34 million in 2022-23.

HMRC’s estimate is based on the 2019-20 Survey of Personal Incomes and is projected using economic assumptions consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibility’s March 2022 Economic and Fiscal Outlook. This represents a sample of individuals in contact with HMRC. However, HMRC do not hold information for all people with incomes below the Income Tax Personal Allowance.