Frozen Tax Thresholds: The Silent UK Tax Rise

Frozen tax thresholds are the most expensive tax change of the past decade. The Personal Allowance and the higher-rate threshold have been held flat since 2021/22 while wages and prices have climbed sharply.

Fiscal drag pulls workers into higher tax bands without anyone explicitly voting to put them there. The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates the threshold freezes will raise tens of billions a year by 2028/29.

The number of UK higher-rate taxpayers has roughly doubled in a decade, from around 4 million to over 8 million, largely without a public conversation about it.

Whichever party is in power, frozen thresholds have become the default fiscal lever. They are a tax rise dressed as inaction, and they hit middle earners hardest.