Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Saturday, Aug 30, 2025

Budget 2021: Chancellor Rishi Sunak denies raising taxes to cut them before next election to win votes - but says reducing burden is 'goal'

Budget 2021: Chancellor Rishi Sunak denies raising taxes to cut them before next election to win votes - but says reducing burden is 'goal'

In his budget, the chancellor promised plans to build "a stronger economy for the British people" after the coronavirus crisis - as he cut alcohol and air passenger duties and lowered the Universal Credit taper rate amid the looming threat of inflation.

Rishi Sunak has denied he raised taxes in the autumn Budget so that he can cut them again ahead of the next general election in order to win more votes - but insisted he will aim to bring the tax burden down before then.

The chancellor said the rises announced in his budget last month must be seen in the context of the public services being delivered following the coronavirus pandemic and told MPs that people's quality of life can be boosted by higher taxes.

It comes after Mr Sunak hiked the tax burden on Britons to its highest level since the Labour government led by Clement Attlee in the 1950s.

The chancellor delivered his budget in the Commons last week


Addressing the Commons Treasury Committee on Monday, the chancellor said "voluntarily" raising taxes would be "the last thing" he would do, and that he took the measures "to fund what we needed to".

Delivering his budget last Wednesday, Mr Sunak said it had been necessary for the government to take "corrective action" due to impact the pandemic has had on the economy.

And reiterating this point during a session of the Commons Treasury Select Committee on Monday, the chancellor said the purpose of raising taxes is to "fix the damage that coronavirus has done".

Among the tax increases, National Insurance contributions will rise by 1.25% from next April to help pay for the NHS and social care system.

"We can look at the taxes and, yes, people are paying more, they're going to pay the new health and social care levy, no-one is pretending otherwise, that takes money from people, that's why in an ideal world I would prefer not to have to put taxes up on people," Mr Sunak told MPs.

"But you do get something for that money. It's all very well to just look at the taxes without looking at what you're getting.

"So, you can talk about living standards by just looking at the tax side, I think that's probably slightly unfair because people's quality of life is also influenced by the quality of the public services that they get."

Mr Sunak defended hiking the burden on Britons to a level not seen since the 1950s


His comments come as disquiet grows among some Conservative MPs over the fact that rising prices have left many families facing a potential cost-of-living squeeze.

But Mr Sunak said "the reason the tax burden is very high is because we're spending a lot on lots of different things".

He continued: "Believe me, the last thing I would do is voluntarily raise taxes. We've had to do that to fund... what we needed to do, right?"

The chancellor also pledged to pursue his aim of bringing taxes down again.

Mr Sunak said it had been necessary for the government to take 'corrective action' due to impact the pandemic has had on the economy


"That's very much my goal, my mission, over the remainder of this parliament, and we took a step in that direction at budget," he told MPs.

After delivering his budget, Mr Sunak told MPs that the measures he put in place to protect jobs at the start of the pandemic meant the economy was now recovering strongly and unemployment is far lower than many had feared.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) now expects the UK's economic recovery from the COVID pandemic to be "quicker" than previously thought, Mr Sunak told MPs, with growth revised up from 4% to 6.5% for this year.

In 2022, the OBR expects the UK economy to grow by 6%, and 2.1%, 1.3% and 1.6% over the following three years.

And it has also revised down its estimates of long-term "scarring" to the UK economy of the COVID crisis.

Delivering his budget, the chancellor also told the Commons that the OBR expects a lesser peak of unemployment, of 5.2%, which means "over two million fewer people out of work than previously feared".

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
High-Stakes Trump-Putin Summit on Ukraine Underway in Alaska
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
×