In the
Queen's Speech it was confirmed the government would make sure that someone
working 30 hours a week on the minimum wage would not have to pay income tax.
It's a
figure that crops up quite a lot in the tax and benefits system, although it's
well short of the 37.4 hours worked by the average full-time worker.
The
government's programme also includes giving 30 hours a week of free childcare (based
on a 38-week school year) to families with three-year-olds and four-year-olds
(who have not yet started school).
Thirty
hours a week is the minimum that the Office for National Statistics considers
to be a full-time job in its Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.
It is also
the minimum number of hours a week that someone aged between 25 and 59 would
have to work to be eligible for Working Tax Credits.
We know
from the Labour Force Survey that 72% of workers in the UK work 31 or more
hours a week.
Tax threshold
So it
appears that this person working 30 hours a week is relatively unusual. The
minimum wage from October for those over 21 will be £6.70 an hour, which would
be £10,452 a year for someone working 30 hours a week. Currently, the threshold
for paying income tax is £10,600.
The
Conservative Party manifesto said the country was "on course for a minimum
wage that will be over £8 by the end of the decade". Someone working 30
hours a week for £8 an hour would earn £12,480 a year, which is below the
£12,500 a year income tax personal allowance that the government plans for
2020.
And we also
know that if the minimum wage, which is based on advice from the Low Pay
Commission, rises by more than a penny above £8 an hour, the income tax
threshold will be raised accordingly.
You do hear
references to the tax-free minimum wage without mentioning the 30 hours, but
the Queen's Speech was very clear that the pledge was only for those working up
to 30 hours.
And
remember, it's not really a tax-free minimum wage - you start paying National
Insurance at £8,060 a year, which is only just over 23 hours a week on minimum
wage.
(Πηγή: bbc.com)
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου