The government currently earns more from IPT than it does from many of the ‘sin’ taxes, such as the duties on beer, wine, spirits or betting and gambling.

According to latest figures, during last December alone the government raked in £560 million from the tax, up 10% on the previous December.

This was significantly more than tax revenue from beer (£324m), spirits (£250m) and betting and gambling (£349m) in the same month. This shows a significant increase from a monthly average of £274m IPT income in 2015.

The standard rate of IPT has doubled since 2015, most recently going up from 10% to 12% in June 2017. It applies to the vast majority of policies sold, including property, motor, health (including cash plans), pet and business insurance.

According to ABI’s analysis of the figures, total IPT revenues for government between 2015 and 2019 have jumped by 98%.

The statistics also revealed that in 2018/9 alone, IPT raised £ 6.3 billion, far exceeding the income from taxes on beer (£3.6bn), wine (£4.3bn), spirits (£3.7bn) or betting and gambling (£2.3bn)

Huw Evans, director general of the ABI, said: “Hard-working and responsible families and businesses deserve a break from the IPT burden which pushes up the cost of insurance without people noticing. This tax hits the poorest the hardest on products that most people need like motor or home insurance. It also penalises people for doing the right thing and saving the state money, while taxes on alcohol and gambling have stayed low.

“The Treasury’s rate of IPT is the sixth highest in Europe and hits our international competitiveness at a time when the UK needs to be making itself more globally attractive.”