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 Milton Keynes, that’s 2,287 self-employed workers.

Councillor Robert Middleton, Labour Cabinet Member for Resources, said: “The Conservatives are the party of high tax because they are the party of low growth. Over 2,000 self-employed in Milton Keynes 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 Milton Keynes 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 added: “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?”