Rachel Reeves insists taxes stored at ‘an absolute minimal’ on staff after backlash
The defiant-sounding Chancellor also defended her position, saying “you’re not going to write my obituary today” after delivering a Budget she was “incredibly proud” of
Rachel Reeves has insisted taxes have been kept at “an absolute minimum on ordinary working people”.
The defiant-sounding Chancellor also defended her position, saying “you’re not going to write my obituary today” after delivering a Budget she was “incredibly proud” of.
Her decisions put Britain on course for a record tax burden after hiking levies by £26 billion as weaker economic forecasts left holes in her previous spending plans.
But the Resolution Foundation said low-to-middle earners would have been better off with their tax rates rising than their thresholds being frozen. The influential think tank said that raising all rates by 1p would have been less costly than freezing thresholds for anyone with an income below £35,000.
Resolution Foundation chief executive Ruth Curtice said most of the Budget’s impact would be felt in three years. She said the current Parliament is set to be the second worst for living standards on record.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank also said that households are facing a “truly dismal” increase in their disposable income following the Budget.
Tax hikes are also paying for increased welfare spending, with Ms Reeves announcing the abolition of the two-child benefit cap. Removing the cap is expected to lift 450,000 children out of poverty.
Ms Reeves rejected claims that she hiked taxes on working people in order to fund the rising welfare bill. “I’m not going to apologise for lifting the two-child limit,” she insisted.
Sir Keir Starmer said that the Budget “asked everybody to make a contribution” in order to protect public services and help people struggling with the cost of living.
The Prime Minister argued that his Government had “done the least possible we can” to impact people and had “done it in a fair way”. Sir Keir said he was “not going to apologise” for taking 450,000 children out of poverty.
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