Nearly two million workers have now been dragged into the higher rate income tax group since the Conservatives won the election.
The number of workers paying 40pc or 45pc tax has risen from 4.25 million to more than 6.1 million today, HM Revenue & Customs figures show.
This comes after the Treasury imposed a five-year freezing point on tax thresholds before inflation soared.
It is now predicted that the threshold freeze will create a total of more than three million extra higher rate taxpayers before 2026, according to analysis by consulting firm LCP.
This means a total of seven million workers will receive at least the 40 pct tax. paid by the next election – more than one in five of all taxpayers.
The Treasury has amassed billions of pounds of extra tax during the worst cost-of-living crisis in generations thanks to the “fiscal drag” phenomenon, which is accelerating in times of high inflation and sees workers being dragged into higher income tax brackets as their wages rise in line with price growth ..
The Prime Minister and Chancellor have faced widespread criticism, including from their own MPs, for increasing the tax burden and the new national insurance levy of 1.25 pct. applied during the worst cost of living crisis in four decades.
The Treasury’s income tax consumption has risen by almost a third in three years, rising to £ 251 billion from £ 189 billion by 2022-23.
Since the Conservatives returned to power in 2010, the number of taxpayers with higher rates has almost doubled from 3.2 million to 6.1 million.
The higher tax threshold was £ 43,875 in 2010, and has since been raised to £ 50,270.
Robert Colvile, of think tank the Center for Policy Studies, said the record-high tax burden would cost millions of households during a time of “horrific” cost of living.
He said: “Rishi Sunak praised Nigel Lawson as a great Tory chancellor. But in Lawson’s day only 5% of taxpayers were caught by the higher rate. Today the ratio is almost four times higher. That can not be right do not be. ”
Tax thresholds have been frozen across the board, despite Boris Johnson claiming before the December 2019 election that his ambition was to raise the higher rate tax band to £ 80,000.