New data from HM Revenue and Customs reveals that the number of people of State Pension age or over paying income tax has surged in recent years due to frozen tax thresholds and significant successive increases to the State Pension. Statistics show that around 6.7 million people of State Pension age or over were paying income tax as of 2021/22.
The Head of Policy at independent consultancy Broadstone, explained: "We would expect a growing number of pensioners to be liable for income tax as the country's demographic changes due to our ageing population and pace of increases to the State Pension. But it is a reminder that with the income tax thresholds frozen at £12,570 until 2028 from 2021, an ever-growing proportion of pensioners will be captured by the tax given the increases to the State Pension.
"But this is a continuation of a long-term trend which has seen the number of over-65s paying tax rise by around four million since 2010/11. For a pensioner in Britain, being an income tax payer is now the norm rather than the exception."