Chancellor unveils biggest Budget tax rises in decades to fund Covid crisis - BBC News

The enormous cost of shoring up the economy, because of the pandemic, has been spelled out by the chancellor in today's Budget. Mr Sunak revealed a series of measures that will take the UK's tax burden to its highest level since the 1960s. He insisted that without “corrective action” the national debt would go on rising indefinitely.

There will be more spending in the short term. The furlough scheme for workers and support for the self-employed will be extended to September as will the £20 a week uplift in Universal Credit.

For the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors the business rates holiday will continue until June. There's an extra £65 billion being spent on the whole range of support measures.

Paying for all this will take decades according to the chancellor. Income tax allowances will be frozen from April 2022 for 4 years. This means more than a million people will start to pay income tax and a million more will start to pay the higher rate. Corporation Tax, paid by companies on their profits, will rise from 19 to 25 percent by 2023.

That will only make a dent in the record amounts the government is borrowing, more than £355 billion this year alone.

The Office for Budget responsibility says the overall Budget package will lead to the highest tax burden on the UK economy for more than half a century.

Huw Edwards presents BBC News at Ten reporting by political editor Laura Kuenssberg and economics editor Faisal Islam.

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