UK Tax Petition Surpasses 30,000 Signatures for Allowance Increase
Wade Reid launched a petition calling for the UK personal tax-free allowance to rise to £20,000, forcing a formal government response after 30,000 people signed.
A public petition created by Wade Reid has surpassed 30,000 signatures, calling on the government to increase the personal income tax-free allowance from £12,570 to £20,000. The campaign argues that the allowance has been frozen since April 2021 and is scheduled to remain unchanged until April 2031, which forces workers to pay more tax in real terms as living costs and household bills rise.
Because the petition exceeded 10,000 signatures, the Government of the United Kingdom is required to issue a formal response. The petition is scheduled to close on November 14, 2026, and will be considered for a debate in Parliament if it reaches 100,000 signatures. The movement targets Chancellor John Healey, who maintained the frozen threshold in the recent Budget but suggested that bigger changes could be possible.
HM Revenue & Customs reports a 15% rise in basic-rate taxpayers since 2021, a result of fiscal drag where inflation-linked wage increases push low and middle earners into higher tax brackets. Analysis from AJ Bell indicates that raising the allowance to £16,000 would cost the Treasury approximately £35 billion, with every £100 increase costing roughly £1 billion annually.
