Exclusive: Chancellor hints at rises and calls out past ‘scaremongering’ over VAT on private schools and changes to non-doms
Rachel Reeves has said higher taxes on the UK’s wealthy will form part of next month’s budget, as she shrugged off the “scaremongering” and “bleating” of her critics, and stressed her determination to repair the public finances.
Speaking in Washington, where she is attending the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the chancellor told the Guardian there “won’t be a return to austerity” and hinted at tax increases for the most well-off.
Reeves is expected to announce a package of tax rises on 26 November, in response to a downgrade in future growth forecasts from independent forecaster the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
Asked whether higher taxes on the wealthy would feature, the chancellor said “that will be part of the story”.
