Tax hikes to pay for Tory incompetence

CHANCELLOR PAVES WAY FOR GRIM BUDGET

- AMY GIBBONS

JEREMY Hunt yesterday admitted everyone will have to pay more tax and make "sacrifices".

The Chancellor was speaking before his budget on Thursday and said all the rises were needed to get the economy back on track.

He claimed it wasn't all bad news and that he was in for the long haul to see the country through these tough times.

Hunt has declared he will be playing Scrooge as he sets out his vision to restore financial "stability" in the wake of the market turmoil sparked by his predecessor's £45billion tax-cutting bonanza that was later dumped.

Hunt said "people with the broadest shoulders will bear the heaviest burden" as he seeks to fill a black hole in public finances and is understood to be weighing up a cut to the threshold at which the highest earners start paying the top rate.

But last night, Lib Dem Treasury spokeswoman Sarah Olney said: "Hardworking families look set to be clobbered with yet more unfair tax hikes because the Conservative Party crashed the economy. This economic chaos has to end." Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves warned public services are already "on their knees", insisting that "austerity 2.0" is not the right way forward.