"The Chancellor made a big deal of the cuts to National Insurance tax, which put a cool £10bn per year back into the pockets of households. But the reality is that the freeze in income tax thresholds means that many people are being dragged into a higher tax bracket. As a result, the amount of tax flowing into the Treasury’s coffers rises in each of the next five years relative to the size of the economy. In fact, this total tax-take will soon rise to a level not seen since the early 1950s."
Read more of UK Chief Economist Paul Dales' take on the UK Autumn Statement in his monthly column for the Evening Standard.