Ten years ago, a small business owner taking a £100k dividend could pay as little as £2,500 in personal tax if structured efficiently under the old dividend tax system.
Today in 2025, they’re paying £21,250.
Next year, under Labour’s new budget, they’ll pay over £23,000.
And that’s after the company has already paid 25% corporation tax on the profits used to fund that dividend.
In a decade, we’ve gone from a manageable tax bill to one where the state takes nearly a quarter of the dividend on top of corporation tax before the owner sees a penny.
That’s a nearly 800% increase in personal tax on the same £100k.
All for the crime of running a business in Britain.
- This is why entrepreneurship is dying here.
- This is why people aren’t scaling.
- This is why founders are taking their companies and jobs abroad.
If you want growth, stop treating business owners like a bottomless ATM.
Britain needs entrepreneurs, not policies that punish them for succeeding.