Income tax charge and rates – Finance (No 2) Bill 2017

The early clauses of the Bill re-impose income tax for the new tax year and specify the rates at which it is to be charged. In this briefing we try to set this in context from the perspective of a household on a low income who may also be subject to the National Minimum Wage and in receipt of tax credits and means-tested benefits, and we illustrate the complexity that can result from setting rates and allowances in one part of the tax and welfare system without attempting to align them with their equivalents in other parts.