Labour brands Rishi Sunak the ‘high-tax chancellor’ as the party reveals he has raised more tax than any Chancellor in 50 years

Ahead of the Spring Statement, new Labour analysis has revealed that Rishi Sunak has raised more tax than any Chancellor in half a century - with 15 tax rises on households and businesses in the last in the last two years alone.

Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Pat McFadden said:

“The Chancellor may say he “believes” in low taxes – but the hard facts show that Sunak has hit households and business with 15 tax rises in two years in post.

“Rishi Sunak has increased taxes more than any Chancellor in half a century. He should use today to scrap his planned national insurance rise. 

“Over a decade of Tory Government, the economy has grown far slower than when Labour was in power, and it is set to grow even slower in the coming years.

“If the Tories had matched Labour’s record on growth in Government, businesses would have grown faster and people would have had higher incomes, boosting the public finances.

“It is because the Conservatives are the party of low growth, that they are now the party of high tax.”

Ends

Notes to editors

• Background briefing ahead of the Spring Statement is attached. 

• Count of tax rises on households and businesses looks at general revenue raising measures that are directly paid by households and businesses. It excludes small technical fixes and taxes on specific products like red diesel. 

Taken from HMT scorecards, measures included below:

• Corporation tax increase announced budget 2020
• Council tax measures announced spending round 2020
• Reduction in entrepreneurs’ relief for CGT announced at budget 2020
• Corporation tax increase budget 2021
• Income tax personal allowance freeze budget 2021
• Inheritance tax threshold freeze budget 2021
• CHT annual exempt allowance freeze budget 2021
• VAT registration threshold for business freeze budget 2021
• Health and social care levy autumn budget 2021
• Dividend tax autumn budget 2021
• Freeze in starting rate band for savings tax autumn budget 2021
• Freeze in adult ISA subscription limit autumn budget 2021
• Income tax basis period reform autumn budget 2021
• Council tax measures autumn budget 2021
• Freeze in student loan repayment threshold announced January 2022

• Estimate of tax raised per year looks at the net effect of all scored tax measures in the five financial years after the fiscal event. Estimates come from the scorecard when the measures were announced. Estimates are in 2020 prices. Note that only the final year of Roy Jenkins time as Chancellor (1970) is included as that is the oldest data included in the policy measures database.

OBR, Policy Measures Database, https://obr.uk/data/