UK should resist tax cuts without detailing spending pain, IFS says

British finance minister Jeremy Hunt should not announce further pre-election tax cuts in his budget next week unless he can explain the painful spending cuts needed to pay for them, a leading economic think tank said on Tuesday. Hunt and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have said they want to lower Britain’s tax burden – which is on course to hit its highest since World War Two – and many lawmakers in the ruling Conservative Party are demanding action in the March 6 budget with the opposition Labour Party running ahead in opinion polls. The Institute for Fiscal Studies said Hunt might take advantage of extra wiggle room in the public finances created by higher population estimates that will boost headline economic growth and reduced expectations for future interest rates levels.