Tax rises are price we must pay for living beyond our means

JEREMY Hunt's Autumn Statement was always going to be painful, but we had been so prepared for the bad news that a lot of the measures will have come as a relief. 

- Ross Clark

Pensions and benefits will, after all, rise with inflation, and the triple lock on pensions will remain. The Energy Price Guarantee will continue after April for all households, with average bills rising to £3,000 a year rather than £2,500 (though there will be extra help for low income households).

But there is no beating about the bush: a lot of people will be paying a lot more tax as a result of yesterday's statement.

Sympathy may be in limited supply for those who earn between £125,000 and £150,000 a year and who will now face a marginal tax rate of 45 pence in the pound rather than 40 pence. But "fiscal drag" - as it is called when tax thresholds do not rise in line with inflation will affect most earners. The coalition was widely praised when it sharply increased the personal tax-free allowance from 2010 onwards, taking many low-earners out of the tax system altogether. Many of those people will now find themselves paying income tax once again.

It is very easy to bleat about stealth taxes and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves did just that at tedious length yesterday, in spite of my suspicion that we would all be paying even more tax under Labour.