Income tax rate 2015: Is an £11,000 personal tax-free allowance on the cards in Osborne’s Budget speech?
The nation could be in for a treat and find more cash in their pocket from April as part of a pre-election tax pledge by the Conservatives and Lib Dems.
George Osborne is planning to raise the tax-free allowance further in what could be the chancellor’s last ever budget, due to be announced in less than two weeks time, according to the Sunday Times.
In what’s expected to be a quiet budget announcement from the government just weeks before the General Election, the parties are keen to sweeten voters with a tax allowance that would put as much as an extra £200 in pockets and purses every year.
The current tax-free allowance is due to go up from £10,000 to £10,600 in April, but this could be raised closer to the £11,000 mark, according to the report.
In his Autumn Budget last year, the chancellor raised the allowance by £100 from the planned £10,500.
A further £200 increase, taking the rate to £10,800 would cost more than £1.3bn if the increase included higher-rate taxpayers as it has done previously. It could cost as much as £2.7bn if the rate were to be raised as far as £11,000.