Rachel Reeves must resist the temptation to raise income tax because doing so would be a disaster for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that already prop up the UK economy under crushing pressure.

SMEs are the backbone of Britain, employing 16 million people and accounting for over 60 per cent of private sector jobs. Yet we are treated like an afterthought, constantly squeezed in all directions from rising operational costs, inflation, supply chain disruptions, and the relentless tax burden.

In fact, the very idea that the Chancellor might raise income tax would be the final nail in the coffin for the SME family businesses, the local shops, and the innovative start-ups - they are risk-takers and job creators, punishing them with higher income tax is not just bad economics, it’s morally indefensible.

A tax hike isn’t a sterile line item on a spreadsheet. It’s not just about the business owners either, it’s about the teams they fight to keep employed, a wage frozen, a hire not made, an innovation shelved.

I know from experience that many SME owners are already sacrificing enough, many haven’t taken proper salaries in years, even dating back to the pandemic. They’ve weathered Brexit bureaucracy, energy price shocks, labour shortages, and still show up, creating jobs, paying VAT, corporation tax, business rates, National Insurance, and more. Raising income tax now, effectively penalising the people holding the line, is short-sighted, negligent and insulting.

It’s also economically illiterate, you don’t stimulate growth by stripping disposable income from entrepreneurs, freelancers, and hardworking employees. You don’t encourage enterprise by making it more painful to succeed. You support growth by fuelling ambition, not taxing it out of existence.

Instead of reaching for the easy, yet damaging, lever of income tax, Rachel Reeves should focus on real support such as tackling late payments, simplify tax for small firms, and create meaningful incentives for investment and upskilling. I believe that raising income tax is a just a lazy fix with damaging long-term consequences.

If Rachel Reeves wants Britain to grow, she must reject income tax rises and stand with the SMEs driving our recovery.