# UK Petition Demands Raising Personal Tax Allowance to £20,000 Public pressure mounts on Chancellor John Healey as frozen tax thresholds trigger fiscal drag. - **Source:** [Daily Express :: Finance Feed](https://www.express.co.uk) - **Published:** 2026-11-09 - **Topic:** [politics](https://brifing.si/c/politics) - **Original article:** - **On Brifing:** https://brifing.si/s/b060d96e-11ca-4ae8-b9b9-61f82a440239 ## Petition Triggers Official Response A public petition calling for the UK personal income tax allowance to increase from £12,570 to £20,000 has surpassed 10,000 signatures. This milestone mandates an official response from the Treasury. The campaign, created by Wade Reid, aims to provide financial relief to millions of workers struggling with the ongoing cost of living crisis. ## The Mechanism of Fiscal Drag Income tax thresholds have remained frozen since April 2021 and are scheduled to stay at current levels until 2031. This policy creates fiscal drag, where rising nominal wages push more individuals into paying income tax or higher brackets. Consequently, basic-rate earners pay approximately £700 to £800 more in annual tax due to this freeze. ## Chancellor Defends Budget Stance Chancellor John Healey faced intense questioning from personal finance expert Martin Lewis regarding the tax burden. Healey defended his recent budget, claiming he avoided broad-based tax rate increases to protect households. He maintained that current threshold plans are fixed for the next few years, despite criticism that the freeze functions as a stealth tax. ## Rising Taxpayer Numbers HMRC data reveals there are currently 31.4 million basic-rate taxpayers across the UK. This represents a 15% increase since the thresholds were first frozen in 2021. Furthermore, 7.7 million people are expected to pay the higher 40% rate this year, marking a rise of one million individuals compared to just two years ago. ## Impact on Higher Brackets The additional 45% tax rate now applies to 1.3 million individuals, a significant jump from the 263,000 people who paid it when introduced in 2010-11. As inflation drives nominal earnings upward, the static thresholds capture a larger proportion of the workforce, effectively increasing the government's tax revenue without explicitly raising headline tax rates. ## Cost of Potential Reforms Research by AJ Bell indicates that if the personal allowance had tracked inflation, it would reach £16,072 next year and £17,380 by 2029-30. However, raising the allowance to £16,000 would cost the Treasury approximately £35 billion. Even a modest increase of £100 in the allowance would reduce annual tax revenue by roughly £1 billion. ## Public and Expert Criticism Critics argue that the government is disingenuous by claiming not to raise taxes on working people while maintaining the freeze. Martin Lewis challenged the Chancellor, labeling fiscal drag the largest tax increase in recent history. The petition highlights that workers are paying more in real terms as living costs continue to rise sharply. ## Future Policy Outlook While Chancellor Healey rejected immediate changes in the recent budget, he hinted that bigger, long-term adjustments might be forthcoming to fix systemic issues. Prime Minister Andy Burnham also faces ongoing speculation regarding potential threshold reforms. For now, the Treasury remains committed to the existing multi-year plan, leaving millions of taxpayers awaiting further developments. ## Sources covering this story - https://www.express.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/2264521/raise-personal-income-tax-allowance — --- _Summary written by Brifing from the original reporting. Copyright in the original article belongs to its publisher; read the full piece at the link above._