24 Mar 2022Chancellor Rishi Sunak used the 2022 Spring Statement to announce that the starting threshold for national insurance will increase to £12,750 from July 2022. The government stated that the measure will help hardworking taxpayers to keep more of what they earn before they begin paying personal taxes. According to the government the cut is worth over £6 billion and will benefit almost 30 million working people, with a typical employee saving over £330 in the year from July. Additionally, the basic rate of income tax will also be cut by 1p in the pound in 2024. This represents the first cut to the basic rate of income tax in 16 years and is worth £5 billion for workers, pensioners and savers. Commenting on the Chancellor's Spring Statement measures, Tom Waters, Senior Research Economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), said: 'The Chancellor is . . . giving with one hand in tax, having previously taken away with the other. When all is said and done, the reforms imply a greater level of tax for almost all workers – especially those on higher earnings. In the nearer term, many households are likely to see real-terms declines in their incomes with both earnings and benefits failing to keep up with inflation.'