Overview
This report examined the optimal timing, pace and strategy for repairing the public finances in the wake of the pandemic, and the scale and range of tax rises needed for a credible fiscal consolidation plan.
It calls on the Government to introduce a new Health and Social Care Levy, alongside a Pandemic Profits Levy and the biggest reform of wealth taxation in a generation. It concludes that credibly putting the UK’s public finances on a sustainable footing is likely to require at least £40 billion of fiscal consolidation in the middle of this decade.
The report notes that any post-pandemic consolidation will need to be driven by tax rises, rather than further spending cuts, given that it follows an unprecedented decade of austerity for public services.