In the weeks leading up to the Autumn Statement, the press was full of speculation about tax cuts. This was a surprise, just over a year after the tax cuts announced by Kwasi Kwarteng were judged imprudent by the international markets, contributing to a fall in the value of sterling and increases in interest rates. Nevertheless, it seemed that a side effect of inflation was that higher incomes and prices had fed through into higher tax receipts; the Chancellor had more in his coffers – more ‘fiscal headroom’ – than had been predicted in the Spring, and commentators were suggesting what he might do with it.
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