Tax receipts soar in first half of financial year

Tax collected in the period from April to September 2023 totalled £392.5bn according to  HMRC statistics. This is an increase of £23.1bn over the same period last year.

Income tax capital gains tax and National Insurance receipts rose to £216.8bn which is £11.5bn higher than the same six months in 2022-23.

PAYE receipts for the period were £201.2bn an increase of £10.8bn. Overall receipts for business taxes were £43.3bn up by £7.7bn and the VAT collected amounted to £83.1 bn up £6.8bn.

On the increase in income tax collected Tim Walford Fitzgerald private client partner at HW Fisher said much of this could be attributed to the decision to freeze the income tax personal allowance and the higher rate threshold - rather than increasing them in line with inflation – which is ‘causing a significant amount of fiscal drag...