The tax office has been “strongly encouraging” employers to justify the Government’s controversial National Insurance increase to workers, in a move derided as “propaganda” by business owners and “meddling” by a former senior civil servant.

HM Revenue & Customs has contacted businesses multiple times telling them to promote the manifesto-breaking tax increase as “for the NHS”. In an email to employers, the tax agency said employers should include a message to employees “affected” by higher taxes on all payslips in the coming tax year. 

The email said: “The message should read: ‘1.25pc uplift in NICs funds NHS, health and social care’.” The instruction also featured in bulletins sent to employers last month and has been poorly received, with many business owners and lobby groups lambasting the request as “government propaganda”. 

Kitty Ussher, of the Institute of Directors, a lobby group, called the move an “odd initiative” that was clearly attempting to justify a “deeply unpopular and regressive tax on jobs”. “After all, all taxes help to fund public services,” she added.

Craig Beaumont, of the Federation of Small Businesses, said it was not employers’ job to explain or justify spending decisions. He said: “Taking away people’s pay rises during a cost of living crisis is bad enough, but then having the state instruct firms to write PR on payslips just adds insult to injury.”

Business owners also took to social media to vent their frustration at the request. One claimed the tax authority was using “payslips as propaganda”. They added: “If you can’t sell it to the public, don’t expect us to.”

Edward Troup, a senior civil servant at the tax office in 2016, said it was questionable whether the request to businesses fell within HMRC’s legal powers.

Writing on social media he said HMRC had asked employers to push a political narrative despite it supposedly being politically neutral.