A campaign advocating for a rise in the income tax threshold is gaining momentum and today hit a significant milestone. There are growing calls for Chancellor Rachel Reeves to adjust the personal tax allowance limit for the lowest earners in the Autumn Budget on 26 November.

Concerns are escalating thatmillions more individuals, many of whom are the nation's lowest earners, have been caught in the tax net due to 'fiscal drag'. This is a consequence of the lowest income tax threshold being frozen at £12,570 since 2021, while inflation, which impacts wages, has been soaring.

This means that some of the least well-paid workers face taxation as soon as their earnings surpass that figure - and because it has remained static, inflation and wage increases mean that millions more are liable for tax than would have been the case if it had risen as usual.

A new petition on the Parliament website urging the government to increase this figure has hit 10,000 signatures, meaning the Treasury will be obliged to respond. If it collects 100,000 signatures, a debate could be held in Parliament, adding further pressure on Ms Reeves to incorporate changes in the November Budget.

The petition,launched by Shannon Keene, declares: "Raise the income tax personal allowance from £12,570 to £20,000. This would help with increasing rent, mortgages, Council tax, and Gas and Electric bills. Some families can't afford to go back to work after children due to childcare costs wiping out their whole income!"

"We think that we are currently paying ridiculous amounts of tax, and that minimum wage isn't even enough to support an average family. We believe that this would lead to a massive increase in people willing to look for work, instead of people not wanting to, due to it being too expensive to live now."

Multiple petitions have been created on this issue, demonstrating the strength of public feeling nationwide. Earlier this year, one demanding the threshold be lifted to £20,000 gathered an impressive 281,792 signatures on the Parliament website before it stopped accepting further supporters during the summer.

This also triggered a Parliamentary debate in which the Treasury put the cost at £50 billion. Showing the scale of public concern, a fresh petition has been launched calling for the income tax personal allowance to increase from £12,570 to £20,000.

The fact that the previous petition ranked among the largest ever recorded on the parliament website was seen by campaigners as proof of the substantial public sentiment on this matter. Currently, the basic tax rate of 20 per cent applies to earnings above £12,570, whilst those earning more face the 40 per cent rate on income beyond £50,270 - both thresholds have remained frozen since 2021.

The controversy revolves around the notion of 'fiscal drag', which stems from the personal income tax allowance being frozen at £12,570 since 2021. During a Westminster Hall debate in the House of Commons earlier this year, Liberal Democrat Daisy Cooper emphasised the overwhelming public backing as reflecting the nation's mood: "The number of people who have signed it speaks to the strength of public feeling about this issue, which is a serious policy challenge for all political parties. Indeed, I think the petition does more than show the strength of feeling that exists.

"I regard it as a cry for help, because right around the country there are struggling families gripped by a cost-of-living crisis. We have a toxic combination that means that people are seeing their taxes go up but not seeing services improve. It is leading to that cry for help."

James Murray, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, has warned that raising the tax threshold to £20,000 would carry a substantial financial burden. He stated: "I recognise the views of everyone who has put their name to the petition, and let me be clear that, as a Government, we want taxes on working people and on pensioners, who have worked hard all their lives, to be as low as possible.

"We were elected to put more money in people's pockets and, crucially, we were elected to do so in a fiscally responsible way. That is a critical point to understand.

"We aim to keep taxes on working people and pensioners as low as possible, but if we were to heed the calls of some Opposition parties and abandon fiscal responsibility, it would lead to economic chaos and the collapse of public services, and that would harm working people and pensioners the most.

"Raising the personal allowance to £20,000 would cost more than £50 billion. That is more than the £45 billion of unfunded tax cuts announced by Liz Truss in her disastrous mini-Budget."

The debatecan be viewed here.

To see and back the new petition, click here.