Jeremy Hunt rakes in record amount in tax as UK makes £5bn surplus - but STILL refuses to cut burden on hard-working Britons

The Government saw a surplus of £5.4bn in worker taxes in January
The Government saw a surplus of £5.4bn in worker taxes in January
Zara Farrar / HM Treasury
Georgina Cutler

By Georgina Cutler


Published: 21/02/2023

- 12:05

January’s tax revenue saw the highest monthly figure since records began

Britain raked in a surplus of £4.5billion in taxes in January official figures indicate.

Record tax revenues and capital gains taxes have helped to balance huge spending on energy bill support and growing debt interest payments.


The Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed the final set of public borrowing figures ahead of Jeremy Hunt’s Spring Budget.

A surplus of £5.4billion is much higher than the £8billion deficit forecast by economists and £5billion larger than forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the Government's tax and spending watchdog.

File photo dated 17/11/2022 of Jeremy Hunt who will set out a Spring Budget on March 15 2023, the Treasury has said. The Chancellor on Monday commissioned an Office for Budget Responsibility forecast, which will be presented alongside the budget. Issue date: Monday December 19, 2022.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will deliver the Spring Budget in March
Stefan Rousseau

The ONS said self-assessed income tax receipts equated to £21.9billion in January – the highest monthly figure since records began in 1999.

Similarly, Capital gains taxes - which are paid on the profits of disposed assets such as buy-to-let properties if they have increased in value – came to a total of £13.2billion.

The ONS said January’s "high annual self-assessed tax receipts" were partly offset by "substantial spending on energy support schemes and large one-off payments relating to historic customs duties owed to the EU."

The EU payment relates to a long-standing dispute over textiles and footwear imported into the UK from China.

Debt interest payments also increased to £6.7billion in January – the highest January figure recorded caused by higher inflation.

This year, the Government has borrowed £116.9billion to fix the gap between tax receipts and public spending.

Borrowing has continued to surge following the Government’s decision to subsidise energy bills in October.

But from April, support will be reduced as the cap on energy rises to £3,000.

File photo dated 26/01/18 of a pile of pound coins on top of bank notes. The Pensions Regulator should be given a duty to consider the impact of the pensions sector on the wider financial system, according to the House of Lords' The Industry and Regulators Committee, which has criticised the use of leveraged liability-driven investment (LDI) strategies by defined benefit (DB) pension funds, which it said played a significant role in the financial turmoil following the mini-budget in September. Issue date: Tuesday February 7, 2023.
Tax revenues reached record highs in January
Dominic Lipinski

The unexpected surplus comes as the Government faces continued pressure from Tory backbenchers to cut taxes.

Conservative MPs are demanding the ministers reduce the burden on hard-working Britons.

However, the Government has warned it cannot cut taxes as debt remains at historically high levels, with Britain’s debt share at levels last seen in the early 1960s.

Hunt said: “We are rightly spending billions now to support households and businesses with the impacts of rising prices.

"But with debt at the highest level since the 1960s, it is vital we stick to our plan to reduce debt over the medium-term.

“Getting debt down will require some tough choices, but it is crucial to reduce the amount spent on debt interest so we can protect our public services.”

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