Nowadays many people in the UK work out their own income tax bills. Everyone has a personal allowance which is the amount of money they can earn each tax year before they start paying tax. Income above the personal allowance is taxed in bands. The UK tax bands and personal allowances for four tax years are shown below. The tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April the following year. [image of table] Mary is 52 and her husband is 58. Her only earnings each year are from a summer job. Between 6 April 2000 and 5 April 2001 she earned £5,585.