Average income tax on the rise

The average UK tax payer is paying £4,503 per year as income tax. How much are you paying?

Last week UHY Hacker Young, a leading accounting and auditing firm, published a report showing average income tax paid by some 369 towns in the UK. On top of the list is Elmbridge, Surrey at £16,600 per year. So, on average, every taxpayer in this town is paying £16,600 each year to the government. This amount is thrice the amount of the UK average, which stands at £4,503 per year.

London is at number 15 on the list with average £8,850 per year. The 3.9 million taxpayers in London contributed £35bn per annum to the UK government in total. Blackpool is at the bottom of the list with an average of £2,290 every year.

The top 10 towns had an average of £11,827, while the top 30 towns had an average of £9,463 per year. Among the top 30 towns, 28 are situated in the stockbroker belt. These towns are named as the stockbroker belt because a large number of its residents work in financial services, law, accountancy, etc. These towns include South Buckinghamshire at number 2 with £13,600 per year, and Chiltern, St. Albans, Epping Forest, Winchester among others. South Buckinghamshire had 40,000 taxpayers contributing to £540m. The top regions contributed roughly £52bn to the government.

The bottom ten had an average of £2,548 each year. These include towns such as Blaenau Gwent, Strabane, and Kingston upon Hull UA, among others.

In total, around 73,000 residents of Elmbridge paid a combined income tax of £1.18 billion. Elmbridge has topped the list for the second time in succession. The town is home to reputed names in sports and entertainment. These include footballer Gary Lineker, pop star Cliff Richard, and Britain's number 1-ranked tennis player Andy Murray among others.

According to UHY, the raising of the upper tax slab at 45p has put more tax burden on high-income earners. It says the UK government is getting more and more dependent on the affluent parts of South East and London for revenue. This policy has helped the government in increasing their tax collections.

How much income tax are you paying?

You can calculate the amount of PAYE Income tax you pay and compare this to previous years using our free PAYE Calculator.

You can see exactly how much PAYE income tax you paid by checking your P60. You should check your P60 every year (Read: P60 Explained ), thousands pay the wrong tax every year, we discuss what you should check on your P60 here.