The tax burden in the UK “will likely stay at its 70-year high for decades”, the Institute for Fiscal Studies reports.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Paul Johnson, its director, warned that factors such as rising health spending, people living longer, the pensions bill and a need to increase defence spending would make it harder to bring down public spending.
“My guess is that is going to stay there. My guess is it will not, in my lifetime, go back down to where it was through most of my lifetime,” he said.
The prediction comes weeks after Rachel Reeves signalled her first budget as chancellor could be a painful mix of spending cuts, tax rises and increased borrowing.
After figures showed the economy flatlined in July, she refused to rule out increasing business and wealth taxes, or further cuts to already strained departmental budgets.
She has ruled out increasing personal income taxes, National Insurance and VAT as well as corporation tax.
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