![\"Rachel](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776959502_761_Rachel-Reeves.jpg\")
\t\tReeves’ first Budget led the UK to suffer the biggest jump in taxes on wages.\t<\/p>\n\t\t\tWednesday 22 April 2026 5:18 pm\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\tReeves’ first Budget led the UK to suffer the biggest jump in taxes on wages.\t<\/p>\n
Taxes on wages in the UK rose at a faster pace than any country tracked by the OECD as Chancellor Rachel Reeves\u2019 measures have squeezed people\u2019s incomes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A new report<\/a> by the OECD \u2013 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development \u2013 has found that taxes in the UK for single workers jumped higher than any country across the OECD, which has 38 member countries including the US, France, Japan and Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\n Economists said the taxes rose by 2.45 percentage points for a single worker earning the average wage in 2025 compared to an OECD average of 1.15 percentage points.\u00a0<\/p>\n OECD analysts blamed the Reeves<\/a>\u2019 hike to employers\u2019 national insurance contributions (NICs) for the leap in the tax burden while adding that Tory-era policies to extend a freeze on income bands was also adding to fiscal drag.\u00a0<\/p>\n Analysts found that the tax wedge, measured by taxes as a portion of wages, was 32.4 per cent for workers earning an average salary of \u00a355,9983. The OECD average for a single worker was slightly higher at 35.1 per cent.\u00a0<\/p>\n Single Brits earning \u00a393,491 suffered a tax burden of 39.3 per cent. Income taxes are the main levy applied<\/a> to wages.\u00a0<\/p>\n Countries where single workers on average wages had a larger tax wedge included Belgium, Germany and Italy.\u00a0<\/p>\n Married couples in the UK who were on both average and higher salaries continued to enjoy a lower level of tax wedge than single men and women.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n \t\t\tUK suffered biggest unemployment surge in G7\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n The OECD<\/a> said the average wedge for married workers increased at a higher rate than for single workers across most countries, with the average level for nearly all eight household types hitting its highest level since at least 2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reeves\u2019 tax hikes bite<\/p>\n The Paris-based think tank\u2019s findings on the UK reflects the effects of the massive \u00a340bn tax hike Reeves made in her first Budget in 2024, with changes coming into effect last April.\u00a0<\/p>\n The main policy in the Budget involved cutting the salary threshold at which employers begin to pay NICs to \u00a35,000 while the rate was increased to 15 per cent.\u00a0<\/p>\n