RISHI Sunak and Jeremy Hunt today put all Brits on notice they face punishing tax rises for years to come.
Stricken households will see their take-home pay go down as the country struggles to pay the billions of pounds forked out on crippling pandemic costs and energy bills help, Treasury officials have warned.
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Insiders insisted that if essential public services such as the NHS and schools are to be paid for everyone will have to pay more in tax.
Alarm bells have been sounded in Whitehall that spending cuts alone won’t be enough as PM Mr Sunak and Chancellor Mr Hunt draw up their autumn budget.
The pair must act to plug an eye-watering black hole in the public finances understood to be in the region of £50 billion.
They held a crunch meeting yesterday morning as they pore over the latest spending and tax options before their plan is delivered on November 17.
They also pointed to the hundreds of billions of pounds paid out for furlough and business support during COVID along with energy bills price cap which lasts until April.
The Downing Street duo realise the inevitability that everyone in the country will have to pay more in tax in the years ahead – but better-off households will bear the greatest burden.
They have committed to helping the most vulnerable as they struggle with spiralling prices amid the cost of living crisis.
Billions of pounds promised in energy support will last just six months now instead of two years as a Treasury review will decide on how much assistance they will receive.
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A Treasury source last night said: “It is going to be rough. The truth is that everybody will need to contribute more in tax if we are to maintain public services.
“After borrowing hundreds of billions of pounds through Covid-19 and implementing massive energy bills support, we won’t be able to fill the fiscal black hole through spending cuts alone.”
