Families will be an average of £891 worse off from next week because of tax rises and cuts to tax credits and benefits introduced since 2010, according to new figures.
Families will be an average of £891 worse off from next week because of tax rises and cuts to tax credits and benefits introduced since 2010, new figures suggest.
Changes to tax, tax credits and benefits since 2010 will mean that families are £17 a week worse off in the 2013/14 financial year, according to the figures published by the Labour Party.
Based on data published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) in its Green Budget in February and its post Budget briefing earlier this month, the figures show the extent to which living standards are being squeezed by George Osborne’s policy of austerity.
Meanwhile, from 6 April, 13,000 people earning over £1 million will receive an average tax cut of £100,000.
The measures coming in next month include:
From Monday 1 April, changes to council tax and housing benefit will mean:
- 2.4 million families on low incomes will pay on average £138 more in council tax in the year 2013/14 as a result of cuts to council tax benefit, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
- 660,000 people will lose an average of £728 per year or £14 a week as a result of the bedroom tax, according to figures from the IFS.
From Saturday 6 April, changes in the new tax year include:
- the top rate of income tax will be cut from 50p to 45p. This will benefit 267,000 people earning over £150,000, including 13,000 people earning over £1 million who will receive an average tax cut of £100,000, according to figures from HMRC.
- child benefit will be frozen for a third year, while tax credits and other working-age benefits will be increased by just 1 per cent. These real terms cuts will affect 9.7m households, of which 7.3m (or 75 per cent) are working households according to the IFS.
- the personal allowance for those aged under 65 will rise to £9,440 but the higher rate threshold will fall to £41,450.
- changes to the age-related allowance – the so called ‘granny tax’ – will see 3.6m pensioners lose £68 a year and 360,000 people turning 65 this year lose £268, according to the IFS.
To reach hundreds of thousands of new readers and to make the biggest impact we can in the next general election, we need to grow our donor base substantially.
That's why in 2024, we are seeking to generate 150 additional regular donors to support Left Foot Forward's work.
We still need another 124 people to donate to hit the target. You can help. Donate today.
87 Responses to “Families £891 worse off from April, new figures show”
Bruce Bigglesworth
And labour never fixed any statistics? You lot are of your rockers. They were in power for 13 years and only put the top rate of tax up in the last year when they knew they would be ousted. Knowing the Cons would have to put it back down and they could use it as political advantage like this article is doing and like labour have been doing since they put it back to %45. Fact is this government is taking more off the top earners than the Labour party was before. If you tax the rich too much they will leave with their money and another country will welcome their money with open arms.
Stephen Wigmore
No they’re not. The £100 million over-all cost of the tax cut is from the budget.
Andrew Jordan
I agree with the first part of the comment, but the tax them too much and they will leave is cobblers. Many hundreds if not thousands are partners in big law and accountancy firms who cannot work in other countries even if they wanted to, many will be public sector or quasi public sector. Tax rates in the USA and the Far East have been far lower than ours for thirty years, why have they not moved? The most powerful economy in Europe (possibly the developed world) Germany has had much higher direct and indirect taxes since the 1980’s! Yet they still innovate, create and sell more and more. Our biggest problem is that we pay chartered accountants more than chartered engineers. ( just for clarity I am one of the former)
Tony Turtle
2.4 million families on low incomes will pay on average £138 more in council tax
660,000 people will lose an average of £728 per year as a result of the bedroom PENALTY.
Meanwhile,
the top rate of income tax will be cut from 50p to 45p. This will benefit 267,000 people earning over £150,000, including 13,000 people earning over £1 million who will receive an average tax cut of £100,000, according to figures from HMRC.
Excuse me, but doesn’t that mean that those who can’t afford it are paying more and those who can are paying less?
Bruce Bigglesworth
The small percentage of high rate earners being taxed at %50 will not help the country out of its financial shitstate. It will be insignificant amount and a nothing more than a gesture move just to satisfy the jealous who blame the rich for all their problems. How many more rich people will be moving here because of our lower tax on rich people? Hundreds of French super rich have been fleeing France because of their high rate of tax. Many have moved to London creating wealth here creating jobs and spending here, Russia just gave Gérard Depardieu citizenship because he is rich, they have a low tax rate for the rich. Better to take a lower amount of tax off of many rich than tax them away and put off from coming here and investing its common sense. Fact is we have been over spending for a long time. We cant just keep spending tax payers money like its confetti and raising taxes. One of the reasons people have no spare cash and consumer spending has nose dived.