Submitted by Mohamed Tarmohamed on Tuesday 17th March 2026
Published on Friday 27th March 2026
Current status: Open
Open until: Sunday 27th September 2026
Current Signatures: 30
(count is updated approximately hourly)
Make student loan repayments a pre-tax deduction like business training costs.
Businesses claim full tax relief on staff learning and development. Graduates repaying student loans fund the same outcome but receive no equivalent relief, creating marginal tax rates above 51% for some earners. Repayments should be deducted from gross salary before Income Tax and NI.
UK tax law allows businesses to deduct learning and development costs before tax, recognising education as an investment. Yet graduates repaying student loans — who made the same investment — receive no such relief. Repayments are collected after Income Tax and National Insurance, creating marginal rates exceeding 51% for basic-rate taxpayers. This is an inequitable and inconsistent application of tax policy that penalises individual investment in skills.
If you want to sign this petition (as opposed to merely discuss it), you need to do that on the government's e-Petitions website.
216.73.216.231 Thu, 25 Jun 2026 05:48:40 +0100