THE TAX CUT THAT BENEFITED HARDLY ANYONE

Tax cut to the top rate of income tax would have benefited a tiny fraction of taxpayers

nly two per cent of workers in the UK would have benefited from Kwasi Kwarteng’s plans to cut the top rate of income tax. The government has u-turned on its plans to abolish the 45 per cent rate of income tax for those earning over £150,000 a year.

It was a policy that proved unpopular with voters and financial markets alike, sending both the pound and the government’s approval ratings tumbling.

A lot of political and financial capital was lost on a tax cut that would only have impacted a tiny fraction of the UK’S population.

There are 33,581,000 people in the UK paying income tax, according to data from HM Revenue and Customs.

Just 617,000 of those, two per cent of the total, pay the additional rate of 45 per cent.

A third of those people (206,000) are based in London.

Just under a quarter (140,000), meanwhile, are based in the South East.

The East of England has the next highest number (72,000), followed by the North West (34,000), the South West (34,000), the West Midlands (29,000), the East Midlands (25,000), Yorkshire and Humber (23,000), and the North East (8,000).

Just 9,000 of the additional rate payers are based in Wales, while 31,000 are in Scotland, and 6,000 in Northern Ireland.

When it comes to the total amount raised through income tax, London tops the list.

An estimated £48.3 billion is paid in income tax in the capital, according to HMRC data.

That puts it ahead of the South East, which generates £34.8 billion.

The East of England comes third with £19.5 billion, followed by the

North West (£14.5 billion), the South West (£12.8 billion), Scotland (£12.7 billion), Yorkshire and the Humber (£10.0 billion), Wales (£5.0 billion), the North East (£4.3 billion), and Northern Ireland (£3.0 billion).

It means that London generates as much income tax as the six lowest regions of the UK combined - the South West, Scotland, Yorkshire and The Humber, Wales, the North East, and Northern Ireland.