Boris Johnson has accused Labour of having a “lust” to raise taxes, despite his government having introduced the biggest tax rise since the 1940s.
The prime minister came under pressure from Keir Starmer during PMQs on Wednesday to introduce a one-off windfall tax on oil and gas companies in order to help the public pay for surging energy bills.
Johnson left the door wide open to eventually U-turn on his opposition to the plan.
But he said: “This government is not in principle in favour of higher taxation.
“Nothing could be more transparent from this exchange than their lust to raise taxes.”
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the official independent body that examines the government’s public finances, recently dismissed the government’s claim it was cutting taxes.
It said the overall tax burden would be the “highest since the late 1940s under Clement Attlee’s post-war government”.
The independent Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think-tank has also criticised chancellor Rishi Sunak for claiming to have cut taxes while actually allowing them to rise.
“He can now expect to raise more in tax as a share of national income by 2025 than he expected last October,” the IFS said.
Among the tax changes introduced by the government was the rise in national insurance contributions that kicked in from April.
Sunak has promised to cut the basic rate of income tax from 20p to 19p in the pound - but has yet to do so.
Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said Labour would reverse the rise in national insurance if it won power.
“We are the only G7 economy that is increasing taxes for working people right into the middle of a cost of living crisis”
“We are the only G7 economy that is increasing taxes for working people right into the middle of a cost of living crisis,” she said.
It comes as official statistics inflation hit a 40-year high of 9%, but analysis by economic think tanks showed the squeeze on budgets faced by the poor was even greater.