Chancellor Osborne says to raise UK personal tax allowance

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will allow workers to keep more of their earnings before they start to pay income tax, Chancellor George Osborne said on Wednesday in an annual budget statement delivered seven weeks before national elections. Britain will raise the personal tax allowance to 10,800 pounds ($15,831) in the 2016/2017 tax year, Osborne told parliament, up from an increase to 10,600 pounds which starts in April. It will then rise to 11,000 pounds in 2017/2018. The government has raised the allowance steadily since it came to power in 2010. The government will also raise the earnings threshold at which people pay the higher rate of income tax to 43,300 pounds by the 2017/18 tax year. Osborne confirmed it will rise to 42,385 pounds this year. (This version filed to correct years for tax-free allowance increases in 2nd paragraph) (Writing by Andy Bruce, editing by William Schomberg)