A 10% Student Tax Is Unfair

19th April 2024

Why are we imposing tax rates only designed for those with much higher incomes onto students earning little more than the minimum wage? It makes no sense, at all.

Why are so many people paying up to 38 per cent tax on quite, well, average levels of earnings in the UK?

As we know, the basic rate of income tax on earnings up to £50,270 a year in the UK in 2024 is supposedly 20%. Supposedly, but not actually, of course.

If you earn your income from work, you also pay National Insurance. And that adds 8 per cent to the bill.

And then if you're a younger person who's been to university, and approximately half of younger people now have, then you'll also be repaying your student loan. If you're earning much over £25, 000, that means that your combined tax rate will now be 38%.

Now, people say, but that's a student loan repayment, that's not a tax.

Of course, it's a tax. It's charged on your income at a fixed rate depending on how much you make. So, it's a tax in anything but name.

Read the full transcript at Richard Murphy's Blog HERE