Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak will give a speech today on how investment, innovation and development can boost Britain post-Brexit. It comes as Mr Sunak faces scrutiny for his policy on taxes. He is poised to hit nine million Britons with a stealth tax, according to a study. Mr Sunak is under pressure to raise the income tax threshold as inflation drags more people into a higher tax bracket.
According to a study by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), nine million workers will be made to pay more tax as a result of the freeze.
The freeze will end up costing taxpayers £40billion, according to reports.
Douglas McWilliams, CEBR deputy chairman said: “It is absurd. This stealth tax rise should be reversed.”
This is not the first time Mr Sunak has raided taxpayers’ pockets.
Last autumn, Mr Sunak announced that National Insurance contributions will increase from 12 percent to 13.25 percent – a move that proved very controversial.
The increase will later become known as the Health and Social Care Levy, but some have argued this tax hike targets lower earners, while higher earners are unaffected.
The Government is standing firmly by the policy, despite pressure from within the Conservative Party to ditch it.
In January, various Tory backbenchers voiced their anger at the tax hike.
Former Cabinet Minister John Redwood branded it a huge mistake.
He told the Daily Mail that the Prime Minister and Chancellor “will find that the party is extremely angry about it”.
But he signalled that the fight against the tax hike would go on, calling on Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Mr Sunak to “cancel it immediately”.
Senior Tory Robert Halfon added: “If they want to raise money for the NHS – which I agree with – we should be taxing millionaires, not millions of workers.”