ONE in five taxpayers will be dragged into the higher rate band by 2027 — triggering fresh Tory demands for urgent cuts.
Nearly eight million people are forecast to pay the 40 per cent rate or above due to freezing of thresholds.
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That will include some teachers, nurses and electricians.
Tory MPs last night said it was time for Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to speed up moves to slash taxes.
Former Cabinet Minister John Redwood said: “Taxes are too high, putting people off working harder and going for promotions with longer hours and more responsibility.”
Tory MP David Jones said: “The Government is using fiscal drag as a means of increasing revenue — a time-honoured Labour tactic but not to be expected from Conservatives.”
Experts say it represents a “seismic shift” with the share of adults creeping into the higher bracket quadrupling since the early 1990s.
Close to two million more people will be paying the higher levy rate, which kicks in at £50,271, between now and 2027-28 due to a six-year freeze to income tax thresholds that started last April.
Workers’ pain is compounded as earnings are not keeping pace with inflation — running at 10.1 per cent.
Isaac Delestre, of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said: “Higher-rate tax has gone from something reserved for the very richest to something a much larger proportion of adults can expect to encounter.”
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