U.K.'s Top 1% of Earners Now Paying a Quarter of All Income Tax
- IFS study finds government revenues increasingly rely on rich
- Share of population paying any income tax falls to 56%
LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 21: City workers walk over London Bridge as the early morning sun breaks through clouds on October 21, 2014 in London, England. Despite weather warnings issued by the Met Office for high winds and rain off the back of Hurricane Gonzalo, those predictions didn't materialise in London.
Photographer: Dan Kitwood/Getty ImagesThe 1 percent may not be popular among protest marchers, but in the U.K. they’re now paying more than a quarter of all income tax.
A report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies published Wednesday found that the proportion of total income tax paid by the top centile rose to 27.5 percent in the 2015-16 tax year from 24.4 percent in 2007-08. Meanwhile, the government’s policy of gradually raising the point at which people start paying income tax meant that the share of the adult population paying it fell to 56.2 percent from 65.7 percent.