Middle-income households hardest hit in UK

Britain’s middle-income households will be hit hardest by an “unprecedented” collapse in living standards, stagnating wages and tax increases in the government’s latest fiscal plan, says the Resolution Foundation research group.

The typical UK household will take “a permanent 3.7% income hit” following the increase in personal taxes announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt in Thursday’s autumn statement.

Resolution’s analysis of the office for budget responsibility’s forecasts showed that real wages are not expected to return to their 2008 level until 2027, “a two-decade wage stagnation costing £15,000 (RM80,934)” compared with what would have happened had trends in place before the global financial crisis persisted.

Hunt unveiled £55bil (Rm297bil) of tax rises and spending cuts to fill a hole in the public finances caused by a permanently smaller economy and rocketing debt-servicing costs. — Bloomberg