Rishi Sunak faces calls to cut taxes as Treasury rakes in an extra £24m a DAY due to soaring prices

Rishi Sunak is facing new calls to cut taxes after it emerged the Treasury is raking in an extra £24million a day because of soaring prices.

The Chancellor was accused of ‘cashing in on people’s misery’ by refusing to bring in an emergency tax cut at a time when inflation is running at nine per cent, leaving the nation in the grip of a cost of living crisis.

Last month Mr Sunak announced help to pay domestic fuel bills, but campaigners say this is not enough.

Analysis by the Lib Dems found that the Treasury is receiving £422million every day from VAT – £23.5million as a result of higher prices.

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Chancellor Rishi Sunak is facing calls to cut taxes after it emerged the Treasury is taking in an extra £24million a day due to soaring prices

The Office for Budget Responsibility, the official public finances watchdog, forecasts it will bring in an extra £8.6billion this year. 

In March 2021, the forecast was £145.6billion, but this rose to £154.2billion a year later. This suggests that the Treasury will be raising an extra £23.5million a day on average. 

Conservative MPs voted down a Lib Dem proposal to cut VAT to 17.5 per cent, which would have saved the average family £600 a year.

The party’s Treasury spokesman, Christine Jardine, said: ‘It can’t be right that the Chancellor is raking it in hand over fist while millions of families and pensioners are struggling to get by.

‘Every day that goes by without cutting VAT means this Conservative Government is profiting from soaring prices and cashing in on people’s misery.   

‘An emergency cut to VAT would put this money straight back into people’s pockets at a time when those pockets don’t run deep.’