Who pays income tax in the UK: the people the bill actually falls on

🧾 How to read the income tax figures ✕

Why this site now divides costs by income tax payers, not by everybody

"£1.23 for every person in Britain" spreads a bill across babies, schoolchildren and everyone else who will never be sent it. Dividing by the people who pay income tax gives a larger and more honest number for the reader who does pay. Every "per income tax payer" figure on the Britain overseas tiles uses the one count on this tile, so if HMRC revises it they all move together.

"Income tax payer" is not the same as "taxpayer" — and we never say it is

Nearly everyone pays some tax: VAT on what they buy, duty on fuel and alcohol, council tax, National Insurance on wages. Nobody counts those people, and HMRC does not try. What HMRC does count is who is liable for income tax, and that is the only published head-count of people who pay a tax. So the figures here are exactly that, and the words on the tiles say "income tax payer" every time. Income tax is the government's largest single tax but it is well under half of what it raises, so the division is a way of sizing a cost, not a statement of who funded it.

Pensioners are in the count, because millions of them pay

It is easy to assume retired people are outside the tax system. HMRC projects that about 9.6 million income tax payers — nearly one in four — are over state pension age. The state pension itself is taxable income, and the full new state pension is £241.30 a week in 2026-27 — about £12,548 a year, some £22 short of the frozen £12,570 allowance — so almost any private pension on top is enough to create a bill. Children are genuinely outside: HMRC told Parliament there were about 13,000 income tax payers aged 16 and 17 in 2022-23.

"By the highest rate each one pays"

HMRC sorts people by their marginal rate — the rate on their top slice of income. A higher-rate payer still pays nothing on the first £12,570 and 20% on the next slice; they are counted once, as higher rate. The "savers rate" group are people whose only taxable income is savings interest or dividends. Scotland sets its own bands: HMRC files Scottish starter, basic and intermediate rate payers under "basic", and since 2024-25 Scottish advanced rate payers under "additional", so this is one UK-wide picture.

Measured and projected

The last year HMRC has actually measured is 2023-24, from its Survey of Personal Incomes — a sample of tax records. Everything later is a projection built on the Office for Budget Responsibility's March 2026 forecast, published on 15 July 2026. We divide by the 2026-27 projection because it describes the people paying now; the chart marks which bars are measured and which are projected.

Why there is no official number for people who work and pay no income tax

Asked in the Lords in July 2025 how many adults pay no income tax, the Treasury replied that the figure is "not currently held or published". HMRC's records cover people who come into contact with the tax system; somebody with a small job and no tax to pay can be invisible to it. The subtraction on the tile — adults minus income tax payers — is ours, and it uses a population figure and a payer figure for the same year on purpose.

How our estimate of low-paid workers is made, and where it is weak

The Office for National Statistics publishes two tables of how pay is spread out, and we read where the £12,570 allowance falls in each. Payroll records (PAYE Real Time Information) cover everybody on a payroll, add together the pay from all of a person's jobs, and give monthly pay at every fifth percentile. In July 2026 the 10th percentile was £893 a month and the 15th was £1,055; the allowance is £1,047.50 a month, which sits almost at the 15th — so about 15% of 30.25 million people, some 4.5 million. The earnings survey (ASHE, April 2025) gives annual pay, but only for jobs held for more than a year: 10th percentile £11,425, 20th £18,560, which places the allowance at about the 12th percentile — some 3.5 million. Between two published percentiles we draw a straight line; that step is ours. The two disagree for a reason. The payroll figure is a monthly rate, so it includes people in short or part-month jobs who will earn little over the year — and also some who will earn plenty in other months. The survey leaves out everyone who changed jobs in the year, who are disproportionately low paid, and it counts jobs rather than people. A whole-year answer most likely lies between them. Neither tells you who pays no income tax: someone paid £9,000 with a pension on top is a payer. The self-employed are a separate figure from a different source and an earlier year, which is why they are shown beside the employees and not added. One oddity worth knowing: the 40th percentile of part-time annual pay is exactly £12,570. Pay does not land on a round threshold by accident; a noticeable group of people are paid precisely the amount at which tax and National Insurance begin.

What was left out on purpose

How much each band pays in pounds per head; National Insurance, which has its own thresholds and is not paid at all above state pension age; and any judgement about who "contributes". A person who pays no income tax may be a carer, a student, a low-paid worker or a child, and may pay a good deal of other tax. This tile counts; it does not rank.

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