The UK government is currently raising more in tax revenue, as a percentage of national income, than at any time since the 1940s, according to a report published today.
As a result, The Institute for Fiscal Studies said UK households are facing an average tax rise of £3,500 a year by the next election, the biggest increase over a parliament on records dating back more than 70 years.
The IFS said that on current forecasts the Conservatives were on track to raise £100 billion more annually by 2024 than if taxes as a share of national income had stayed the same as in 2019.
It said at the time of the last general election, UK tax revenues amounted to around 33% of national income.
By the time of the next election in 2024, on current forecasts, taxes will amount to around 37% of national income – a level not sustained in the post-war period.
Although the government may decide to announce tax cuts in the run-up to the next election, the IFS said “there is no world in which this parliament – or indeed the period since Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister – turns out to be anything other than a tax-raising one”.
“In fact, it is currently on track to be the biggest tax-increasing parliament since comparable records began,” it said.
The IFS said this is, in no small part, due to a raft of tax-raising measures announced over the past few years.
It highlighted the big increase in the main rate of corporation tax from 19% to 25%, the energy profits levy, and freezes to various income tax and National Insurance thresholds.