Tax Reform
£20,000 Tax-Free • Nine Bands • No Cliff Edges
State Pension Zero Tax • 28-Day PAYE • HMRC Reform
Fair at the Bottom • Steep at the Top • Never Confiscatory
The Principle
The current tax system punishes the bottom and protects the top. A nurse on £30,000 pays approximately 32% of their income in combined income tax and National Insurance. A CEO on £300,000 pays a lower effective rate because their income is structured through dividends, share options, and pension contributions that are taxed at lower rates than employment income. The person who saves lives pays a higher proportion of their income than the person who attends board meetings. That is not progressive taxation. It is a rigged game with a progressive label.
BUILD’s tax reform has one objective: the person who earns least keeps most, and the person who earns most contributes most. No loopholes. No cliff edges. No punitive rates that drive people offshore. A simple, graduated system where every extra pound earned is taxed slightly more than the last, and nobody — at any level — faces a marginal rate that makes earning the next pound pointless.
The first £20,000 is yours. Every penny. After that, you contribute more as you earn more. The nurse keeps 75p in the pound. The CEO keeps 32p. Both are fair. Both work. Neither is punished for earning.
Pillar 1: The £20,000 Personal Allowance
The tax-free personal allowance is raised from £12,570 to £20,000. No income tax. No National Insurance. Nothing. The first twenty thousand pounds a person earns in a year is theirs, clear, with no deduction of any kind.
This means: a full-time worker on BUILD’s £15/hour minimum wage (approximately £31,200 per year) pays zero tax on the first £20,000 and 25% combined on the remaining £11,200. Total tax: approximately £2,800. Effective rate: 9%. Currently, the same worker pays approximately 32% — over £10,000 in tax. BUILD’s reform puts £7,000 per year back in that worker’s pocket. That is not a rounding error. That is the food budget, the heating bill, and the emergency fund combined.
A part-time worker, a carer on the £200/week stipend (Work & Workers Charter), a semi-retired person earning up to £1,500/month (Retirement Charter) — all below £20,000. All pay zero tax. The people who earn least keep everything. That is the floor.
Pillar 2: Nine Bands
Every band is a small step. No jump exceeds 8%. The transition from one band to the next is gradual, predictable, and never punitive. Nobody looks at the next band and thinks ‘what’s the point of earning more.’
Up to £20,000: 0% Income Tax + 0% NI = 0% combined. You keep 100%.
The floor. Every penny is yours.
£20,001 – £30,000: 20% Income Tax + 5% NI = 25% combined. You keep 75p.
The first taxed band. Three quarters of every pound above £20K stays with you.
£30,001 – £45,000: 25% Income Tax + 8% NI = 33% combined. You keep 67p.
A teacher, a police officer, a skilled tradesperson. Two thirds of every extra pound is theirs.
£45,001 – £60,000: 30% Income Tax + 10% NI = 40% combined. You keep 60p.
A senior nurse, a mid-career professional. Sixty pence in every pound. Still a clear majority.
£60,001 – £80,000: 35% Income Tax + 12% NI = 47% combined. You keep 53p.
A GP, a senior manager. Just over half of every extra pound. Still a majority.
£80,001 – £100,000: 40% Income Tax + 13% NI = 53% combined. You keep 47p.
A consultant, a senior executive. NI caps at 13% from this point. Income tax does the work.
£100,001 – £150,000: 45% Income Tax + 13% NI = 58% combined. You keep 42p.
High earners. Substantial contribution. Still keeping over 40p in every pound.
£150,001 – £200,000: 50% Income Tax + 13% NI = 63% combined. You keep 37p.
Very high earners. Two thirds to the state. One third to the earner. Steep but not confiscatory.
£200,000+: 55% Income Tax + 13% NI = 68% combined. You keep 32p.
The ceiling. Nobody pays more than 68p in the pound on any income at any level. That is the maximum. Sweden’s top rate is 57%. BUILD’s is higher but not by enough to drive capital flight. The person on £300,000 keeps £120,000+ after tax. They are not suffering.
Pillar 3: Pension Taxation
You already paid tax on this money when you earned it. You saved it. You’re drawing it down. Taxing it again at full rates is double taxation. BUILD will not tax people into the grave.
3.1 — State Pension: Zero Tax
The state pension is completely tax-free. This is already established in the Retirement & Pensions Charter (Pillar 4): the first £1,500 per month from all pension sources combined is tax-free. The state pension at £1,500/month falls entirely within that tax-free threshold. No income tax. No NI. No deductions. The state pension is yours.
3.2 — Private and Workplace Pensions: 5% Above the Floor
Any pension income above the £1,500/month tax-free floor — from workplace pensions, private pensions, drawdown, or any other pension source — is taxed at a flat rate of 5%. Not at income tax rates. Not at 20%, 30%, or 40%. Five percent.
A pensioner drawing £2,000/month (£1,500 state pension + £500 workplace pension) pays 5% on the £500 above the floor. That is £25/month. Not the £100/month they would pay under current income tax rates. The saving is £900/year. For a pensioner.
The justification is simple: this money was taxed when it was earned. It was taxed inside the pension fund through dividend tax and capital gains. Taxing it a third time at full income tax rates when the pensioner draws it down is triple taxation of the same pound. Five percent acknowledges the administrative cost of the pension system without punishing the saver for having saved.
Pillar 4: 28-Day PAYE and the Calendar
BUILD’s calendar reform (13 months of exactly 28 days) standardises every PAYE calculation. Every pay period is identical. Every month has the same number of working days. Every employer calculates tax on the same basis every month. No more variable months where the tax calculation differs because February has 28 days and March has 31.
For self-assessment: tax returns align with 28-day months. Quarterly payments on account are exactly 91 days apart (13 weeks). Annual returns cover exactly 364 days plus the intercalary New Year’s Day. The irregularity that currently makes tax calculations needlessly complex — because the Gregorian calendar has months of different lengths — disappears. Every period is the same. Every calculation is the same. HMRC processes faster. Errors reduce. Compliance improves. Because the maths is simpler.
Pillar 5: HMRC Enforcement Reform
5.1 — The Problem
HMRC currently enforces tax debts through the court system and private bailiff companies. The cost of court proceedings, legal fees, and bailiff charges frequently exceeds the debt being pursued. A £1,200 tax debt generates £800 in court costs, £500 in bailiff fees, and months of delay. HMRC recovers £1,200 and spends £1,300 collecting it. The taxpayer is destroyed. The Treasury is worse off. The only winner is the bailiff company.
5.2 — 30-Day Panels
HMRC will establish its own enforcement panels — internal tribunals that assess tax debts and authorise recovery action within 30 days. No court proceedings. No external legal fees. No six-month delays. The debtor receives notice of the debt, has 14 days to respond or arrange payment, and if no response or arrangement is made, the panel authorises recovery within 30 days of the original notice.
The panel process is faster, cheaper, and more proportionate than the court system. It does not generate legal fees that inflate the debt. It does not enrich bailiff companies. It does not clog the courts with cases that could be resolved administratively.
5.3 — HMRC Seizure Teams
Where a panel authorises asset seizure, HMRC’s own trained enforcement officers execute the seizure. Not private bailiffs who work on commission and have a financial incentive to escalate. HMRC officers who are salaried, trained, accountable, and operating under a code of conduct that prioritises recovery of the debt, not maximisation of fees.
Seizure is proportionate to the debt. A £1,200 tax debt does not result in the seizure of a £15,000 vehicle. A payment plan is always offered before seizure. Seizure is the last resort, not the first action. And the cost of enforcement is borne by HMRC’s operational budget, not added to the debtor’s liability.
Pillar 6: Voluntary NHS Contribution
For people who wish to contribute to the NHS following treatment, BUILD will establish a voluntary contribution mechanism. This is not a charge. It is not an invoice. It is not mentioned at the point of treatment. It is a door that exists for people who want to walk through it.
A person who has received a hip replacement, a cancer treatment, a life-saving surgery, or any other NHS care may choose — entirely voluntarily — to make a contribution to the trust that treated them. They choose the amount. They choose the payment period (lump sum or spread over up to 5 years). The money goes directly to the trust, ring-fenced for clinical care. No administration fee. No follow-up if they do not contribute. No record that affects future treatment.
This is the RNLI model applied to healthcare. The lifeboat is free. The donation is gratitude. The NHS stays free at the point of use. The contribution is a choice. Some people will choose it. Some will not. Both receive identical care.
The Tax System BUILD Will Deliver
These six pillars create a tax system that is fair at the bottom, steep at the top, and honest throughout.
The first £20,000 is tax-free. A worker on minimum wage pays an effective rate of 9% instead of 32%. That is £7,000 a year back in their pocket. Nine graduated bands ensure that every extra pound earned is taxed slightly more than the last, with no jump exceeding 8% and no combined rate exceeding 68%. NI caps at 13% and income tax does the heavy lifting at the top.
The state pension is tax-free. Private pension income above the £1,500 floor is taxed at 5%, not at full income tax rates. You do not tax people into the grave for having saved.
PAYE calculations are standardised by the 28-day calendar. Every month is the same. Every calculation is the same. HMRC enforces through its own 30-day panels and trained officers, not through courts and private bailiffs that cost more than the debt.
And for those who want to give back after NHS treatment, the door is open. No pressure. No invoice. Just gratitude with a payment mechanism.
The first £20,000 is yours. After that, you contribute more as you earn more. The nurse keeps 75p. The CEO keeps 32p. Both are fair. Neither is punished for earning. And the pensioner is not taxed into the grave for the crime of having saved.
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BUILD UK
builduk.club
August 2026
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