Rishi Sunak has denied he raised taxes in the autumn Budget so that he can cut them again ahead of the next general election in order to win more votes – but insisted he will aim to bring the tax burden down before then.
The chancellor said the rises announced in his budget last month must be seen in the context of the public services being delivered following the coronavirus pandemic and told MPs that people’s quality of life can be boosted by higher taxes.
It comes after Mr Sunak hiked the tax burden on Britons to its highest level since the Labour government led by Clement Attlee in the 1950s.
Addressing the Commons Treasury Committee on Monday, the chancellor said “voluntarily” raising taxes would be “the last thing” he would do, and that he took the measures “to fund what we needed to”.
Delivering his budget last Wednesday, Mr Sunak said it had been necessary for the government to take “corrective action” due to impact the pandemic has had on the economy.
And reiterating this point during a session of the Commons Treasury Select Committee on Monday, the chancellor said the purpose of raising taxes is to “fix the damage that coronavirus has done”.
Among the tax increases, National Insurance contributions will rise by 1.25% from next April to help pay for the NHS and social care system.
“We can look at the taxes and, yes, people are paying more, they’re going to pay the new health and social care levy, no-one is pretending otherwise, that takes money from people, that’s why in an ideal world I would prefer not to have to put taxes up on people,” Mr Sunak told MPs.
“But you do get something for that money. It’s all very well to just look at the taxes without looking at what you’re getting.
“So, you can talk about living standards by just looking at the tax side, I think that’s probably slightly unfair because people’s…
Source : skynews
