£71.2bn September tax take won’t help plug fiscal black hole
September’s tax takings of £71.2bn won’t be enough to help plug the fiscal black hole as increased borrowing digs it deeper, say leading audit, tax and business advisory firm, Blick Rothenberg.
Tom Goddard, a senior associate at the firm, said: “Tax takings are increasing, but so is borrowing as a result of high public spending.”
He added: “The total HMRC receipts for the month of September 2025 amounted to £71.2bn. And the total receipts figure for the 12 months to September 2025 was in fact 6% higher than for the same 12-month period to September 2024.”
Tom said: “However, if these tax take figures were put on a graph, the plot line would seemingly follow a similar trajectory as the UK’s borrowing costs, reported to be £7.2bn higher than original forecasting according to the ONS with official borrowing figures for the 6 months to September 2025 reaching just shy pf £100bn.”
He added: “Of the total tax take 31% is derived from income tax receipts, making it the highest earner for the government. Income tax receipts themselves were 9.8% higher for the 12 months to September 2025 than the year prior. And with Q3 ending for corporates, corporation tax receipts were £300m higher in September 2025 than September 2024.”
Tom said: “However, the subject of many news stories in the run up to the much-anticipated Autumn Budget surround property taxes and inheritance tax. The statistics published for these two revenue streams might possibly shed some light on the governments current tax policy.”
He added: “Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is up 24.2% for the 12-month period to September 2025 compared with the 12 months prior, making it the tax with the highest increase for this period. SDLT receipts were £14.9bn for this period. The 12-month period to September 2024 was almost £3bn less than this.”
Tom said: “The difference is likely due to a spike in SDLT receipts in March 2025 following announcements that the SDLT bands were being adjusted. With the sharp increase in revenue generated by SDLT, the chancellor could perhaps be viewing this tax as a serious revenue generator for the government and ripe for reform as she has previously called for.”
He added: “Finally, the outlier to this month’s statistics is inheritance tax, which was £65m lower in September 2025 compared with September 2024. This represents the second month in a row IHT receipts are lower compared with the same month of 2024. As a former economist, the chancellor should look at the downward trend of this tax and assess options to get it back on track.”