Labour branded the Tories “the party of high taxes” - and warned the average household would still see a £3,000 increase, despite the Chancellor’s 1p cut in income tax.
Labour ’s analysis of the OBR figures found that on average, households will still be hit by the Chancellor’s tax rises of £3,000 by 2026/27 – even with the cut in income tax of 1p in 2024.
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “The Conservatives are the party of high taxes, because they are the party of low growth and wasteful spending.
“That the Chancellor thought he could fleece everyone with his promises of jam tomorrow - while loading £3,000 more in taxes on families - tells you just how out of touch he is. He’s giving with one hand and taking with two.”
But a Treasury spokesperson said: "These figures are wrong. They divide the economy’s entire tax take, including what is paid by corporations, with the number of households – so are not an accurate reflection of the amount of tax individual households pay.”
They added: "Exceptional levels of borrowing not seen since the Second World War to support jobs and livelihoods through the pandemic meant we had to make to make tough decisions to repair the public finances – as well as investing billions in tackling the NHS backlog, reforming social care, and continuing the fight against covid.
“Despite this, the Tax Plan announced at Spring Statement delivers the biggest cut to personal taxes in over a quarter of a century, reducing the tax burden on working families, driving growth through cutting business taxes, and sharing the proceeds of growth.”
Ms Reeves added: “He made an historic mistake on Wednesday - instead of scrapping the National Insurance rise and backing a one-off windfall tax on oil and gas producer profits to take up to £600 of people’s energy bills, he chose to leave working people paying the price.
“Labour will get our economy firing on all cylinders - taxing fairly, spending wisely and growing our economy.”
