A new online petition also proposes increasing the Personal Allowance to help people with daily living costs.
Income tax rises for Scots in April – how the changes affect you
A new online petition is urging the UK Government to consider scrapping all National Insurance Contributions (NI) from wages and VAT. Petition creator Andrepierre Pyne-Bailey proposes increasing the number of tax bands with the first starting at 6.5 per cent for incomes up to £20,000.
The campaigner argues that making these changes “may mean some people could meet their basic obligations” including paying rent, utility bills and Council Tax while still having money left to support the local economy.
There are currently six tax bands in Scotland and four in England and Wales, however, the Personal Allowance – the point at which someone starts paying income tax – is £12,570 for everyone in the UK. It has been frozen at that threshold since April 2021 and will remain at that level until April 6, 2028.
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Scottish tax bands 2025/26
- Personal Allowance (0%) – up to £12,570
- Starter rate (19%) – £12,571 to £15,397
- Basic rate (20%) – £14,877 to £27,491
- Intermediate rate (21%) – £26,562 to £43,662
- Higher rate (42%) – £43,663 to £75,000
- Advanced rate (45%) – £75,001 to £125,140
- Top rate (48%) – over £125,140
Tax bands in England and Wales 2025/26
- Personal Allowance (o%) – up to £12,570
- Basic Rate (20%) – £12,571 to £50,270
- Higher Rate (40%) – £50,271 to £125,140
- Additional Rate (45%) – over £125,140
The petition states: “Abolish National Insurance contributions and added-on taxes (VAT). Increase the number of tax bands, the first starting at 6.5 per cent for incomes of £20,000 and the top set at 49.5 per cent for incomes over £2 million. Increase the income tax Personal Allowance to consider the average rent, utilities and Council Tax.”
It continues: “Top earners pay 2 per cent on NI when the bottom earners pay 8 per cent. We think this negates the higher income tax rate. We think a higher number of tax bands would ensure fairer tax burdens.
“Average monthly rent is £1,271 whilst yearly average utilities is £1,800, water bill £445 and Council Tax £1,500 adding up to £18,997.
“Making the Personal Allowance consider these costs may mean some people could meet their basic obligations. Taking home more means people could support local businesses supporting local town centres.”
The ‘Reform the taxation system: Increase the number of tax bands and abolish NI and VAT’ has been posted on the UK Government’s Petitions Parliament website. At 10,000 signatures of support it would be entitled to a written response from the UK Government.
More than 4,400 people have signed a similar petition, calling for the personal tax allowance to increase from £12,570 to £15,597 to “give more people money in their pockets to pay their bills” and rely less on government help”.
Petition creator Andy Hobson is also urging the UK Government to raise the higher income tax threshold from £50,271 to £62,379.02.
He also argues that “as we pay more for goods, our tax free allowance stays the same meaning we’re getting poorer”. New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the rate of inflation has now risen to 3.8 per cent.
The ONS said the rise in inflation was driven by a jump in transport prices, particularly airfares as families jetted off on holiday, and a spike in food prices, with food inflation jumping to 4.9 per cent in July from 4.5 per cent in June as supermarkets faced pressure from global supply chain disruptions and economic uncertainty closer to home.
Core inflation, which strips out the more volatile items such as food, alcohol and tobacco, also edged up in the 12 months to July to 3.8 per cent from 3.7 per cent in June.
Put simply, households are still facing fallout from the cost of living crisis. You can read the full petition on the Uk Government’s website.
