Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced Britons must “face the storm” as he announced a slew of new taxes and spending cuts, ostensibly to shore up the country’s finances while still stimulating growth, as the country faces the prospect of the longest recession in recorded history.
Hunt, the self-styled “Scrooge” Chancellor of the Exchequer, addressed the House of Commons on Thursday morning to announce his autumn budget plans, in which he proposed the largest package of tax increases and spending cuts in over a decade to fill the so-called “black hole” of £55 billion in public finances created in large part by the series of government coronavirus lockdowns, which he personally championed.
The Chancellor, an anti-Brexit, pro-China politician who played a key role in ousting former Prime Minister Liz Truss for her failed tax-cut plan, announced that he would implement £30 billion in spending cuts and £24 billion in tax increases over the next five years.
This comes on top of the £32 billion in taxes he raised last month, giving the British people the highest tax burden since World War II.
The tax increases will lower the threshold for the 45 percent top tax rate from £150,000 to £125,000, potentially forcing an additional 250,000 people to pay the top rate for the first time.
He also announced that local councils will be given the authority to raise taxes by 3%, raising the average bill to well over £2,000 per year.
Middle-class families will also have to pay thousands more in “stealth” tax increases on income and inheritance tax, national insurance contributions, pensions, and Value Added Tax (VAT) by 2028.
While the Conservatives try to portray themselves as the party of small government and lower taxes, taxes have been raised over 1,000 times in the decade they have been in power.
Notwithstanding Europe’s and the UK’s growing energy crisis, the finance minister went on to confirm that the promised £2,500 energy bill freeze over the next two years will be scrapped, with the energy price cap being raised to £3,000 beginning in April. The government subsidy payment of £400 this winter to assist citizens with soaring energy costs will also not be repeated, leaving millions of people £900 in debt.
The government has also decided to increase the windfall tax on “excessive” profits from energy firms from 25% to 35% in order to continue investing in the green agenda, which has so far failed to achieve energy independence.
“With the existential vulnerability we face, now would be the wrong time to step back from our international climate responsibilities,” he said.