UK Tax Burden by Salary 2026/27

The detail

People conflate marginal tax rates (the rate on your last pound) with effective rates (total tax ÷ total gross). The UK headline marginal rates are 20%/40%/45% for Income Tax plus 8%/2% employee NI. Because the first £12,570 is covered by the Personal Allowance, the effective rate always sits below the marginal rate. The marginal rate peaks in the Personal Allowance taper above £100,000: each £2 earned there removes £1 of allowance, so the marginal Income Tax rate is 60% (62% with NI).

On 2026/27 rates the effective rate is 16.3% at £30,000 (basic rate only), 24.4% at £60,000 (partly in the 40% band), 31.4% at £100,000 (just at the start of the taper) and 39.1% at £150,000 (allowance fully withdrawn, part of the income in the 45% band).

These figures come from our salary calculator with the standard Personal Allowance, NI category A and no pension, student loan or benefits in kind. The actual tax burden can be lower with salary-sacrifice pension contributions (which save Income Tax and NI at your marginal rates), Gift Aid, and ISA-wrapped investment income.

Scotland sets its own Income Tax bands (starter 19%, basic 20%, intermediate 21%, higher 42%, advanced 45%, top 48%), while NI is the same UK-wide. On the same basis the Scottish effective rates are 16.2% at £30,000, 27.3% at £60,000, 34.7% at £100,000 and 43.1% at £150,000.