Hidden away in the small print of last week’s budget was yet another tax hike for working people – a triple whammy for the self-employed already hit by higher NICs and Conservative plans for higher Council Tax, also revealed in the Autumn Budget.

More than 12% of self-employed people face a £3,000 tax hike thanks to the reporting change which will cost sole traders more than £1.7bn. In Birmingham that’s 6,974 self-employed workers.

Councillor Ian Ward, Leader of Birmingham City Council, said:

“The Conservatives are the party of high tax because they are the party of low growth. 6,974 self-employed in Birmingham are now facing a triple whammy – higher national insurance, Conservative plans to force council tax up by another 9%, and now a stealth tax worth £3,000. How much more are working people supposed to be able to take?

“Hard-working families in Birmingham need support to recover but the Conservatives just keep on hammering them with more and more tax. That has to stop – it’s time to Stop The Squeeze.”

Labour’s Shadow Treasury Minister Pat McFadden said,

“As well as all the tax rises on income and business the Chancellor has announced in the past six months, buried in the Budget ‘red book’ is a plan for a stealth tax on the self-employed of £1.7bn over the next five years.

“After the past eighteen months when many self-employed people have had no help at all and when they are already being hit with other tax rises, why are the self-employed being hit with this extra tax rise which the Chancellor didn’t even mention in his Budget last week?”