'Conspicuous' tax increases call

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UHY Hacker Young made the claim as they revealed those living in St Albans, Hertfordshire, paid the highest rate of income tax per head compared to anywhere else in the country last year.

Its accountants found the city's residents, whose annual earnings average £43,500, paid £10,500 per head in income tax in 2008.

Windsor in Berkshire and the Surrey town of Guildford followed in second and third places, the company said.

At number 100 was Hull, where average annual earnings were little more than £17,000 last year.

Rob Durrant-Walker, from the firm, believes the middle-classes have been hit the hardest by the Government's decision not to raise the tax bands at the same rate as wage inflation.

He found that whilst the average UK income has risen 15.2% since 2005, the average income tax contribution has jumped 19.6%.

Mr Durrant-Walker said: "The middle-classes have been particularly punished by the failure to increase the personal income tax rates and thresholds in line with wage inflation.

"This is a way of the Government bringing in tax increases via the back door.

"We know what the Chancellor Alistair Darling's borrowing requirements are going to be but we would like any tax increases to be conspicuous and not brought in as a stealth tax."