Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves. PA Photo. James Manning/PA Wire

Nearly a million more people will be dragged into paying the higher rate of income tax as Rachel Reeves took the UK’s tax burden to an all-time high.

In a Budget that aims to raise some £26bn in extra government revenue by the end of parliament, Reeves extended the income tax thresholds freeze, which economists and political opponents said represented a breach of the Labour Party’s manifesto promise not to hike taxes on working people.

The £8bn stealth tax will lead to 920,000 more Brits paying 40 per cent tax on their income and 780,000 more people paying into government coffers at the basic rate, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the fiscal watchdog which assesses the government’s plans

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