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Cameron pledges to raise higher rate threshold to £50k

Nick Paler
Written By:
Nick Paler
Posted:
Updated:
01/10/2014

Prime Minister David Cameron has said the Conservatives will raise the 40 per cent tax threshold from £41,900 to £50,000 if they win the 2015 General Election.

In a surprise move, Cameron made the multi-billion pound commitment at today’s Conservative Party Conference, as part of a play for votes from the “squeezed middle”.

The Prime Minister also pledged to raise the tax-free personal allowance from £10,500 to £12,500 by 2020.

UK citizens currently pay a 20 per cent basic rate of tax on the first £31,865 they earn above the personal allowance, 40 per cent on earnings between that figure and £150,000, and 45 per cent on taxable income over £150,000.

Cameron said the personal allowance changes would mean one million of the country’s lowest-paid workers do not have to pay income tax at all.

The announcement comes a day after Chancellor George Osborne said he would freeze working age benefits for two years after the election to save £3bn.