'Britain needs extra 6p in the pound to tackle ballooning national debt'
Daily Mail, 30 April 2010
Taxes could rise by six pence in the pound over the next 10 years to slash public borrowing, an economic forecaster warned today.
Although cuts and a public sector pay clampdown will halve the UK's deficit over the next five years, the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said more action is needed to reduce borrowing to below 3 per cent of GDP by 2020.
'We assume it is achieved through income taxes rising by an equivalent of six pence in the pound on the basic rate,' NIESR said.
The prediction comes as the three main political parties have come under fresh pressure to explain exactly how they propose to reduce Britain's ballooning public debts.
It also comes after it was revealed that Bank of England boss Mervyn King had warned that whichever party wins the election, it will be forced to impose such severe spending cuts and tax rises that it will be kicked out of power 'for a generation.
The basic rate of income tax is currently 20 per cent after Gordon Brown cut the rate in one of his last acts as Chancellor in 2007.
