Local Lib Dem MP, Helen Maguire, slams jobs tax with employees in Epsom & Ewell facing financial hit of up to £4025

The rise in employers’ National Insurance has come into effect with employees in Epsom & Ewell facing an estimated hit of almost £4025 in total by the end of the decade, as the jobs tax gets passed down to them as lower real wages, Liberal Democrat research has found.

At the Spring Statement, the OBR reported that 76% of the rise in employers' national insurance (NI) would be passed down to workers through lower real wages. 

The research by the Liberal Democrats has found that this means on average an employee in Epsom & Ewell would be worse off by roughly £4025 by the end of the decade, with workers experiencing a hit of nearly £644 in the next year on average.

Helen Maguire MP has already reached out to a number of independent business owners in her constituency, who are incredibly concerned about the impact the NI rise will have on their businesses - with rising costs, changes to shopping habits since the Covid pandemic and Brexit already squeezing them to the limit.

Local Liberal Democrat MP, Helen Maguire says that high streets could be “on the brink” following the tax hike. They said the Chancellor “must immediately scrap her jobs tax” and are calling on the Chancellor to overhaul the “broken” business rates system to unleash growth in the local area. 

Liberal Democrat MP for Epsom & Ewell, Helen Maguire said:

“The Chancellor’s jobs tax is setting already stretched household and business finances up for another battering right in the middle of a cost of living crisis. After years of Conservative economic chaos, this Labour government now risks boarded-up shop fronts on our much loved high streets, leaving a number of local businesses here in Epsom & Ewell facing near-insurmountable issues. 

”The last thing my constituents and I want to see is shops being forced to close and quite frankly, the Government must get real about the damage their jobs tax will do to people’s pockets. Our town centres and hard-working business owners will bear the brunt of this crushing decision, through no fault of their own.

“The Chancellor must immediately scrap her jobs tax, overhaul the broken business rates system and seek closer trading ties with our European partners through a new UK-EU customs union deal. This is the only way to truly unleash the massive growth potential of Epsom & Ewell’s high streets and protect local household finances.”