Andy Burnham has admitted he is considering putting up taxes when he enters Downing Street.
The prime minister-in-waiting said he would make “difficult” decisions to balance the nation’s finances, which may include “having to ask for a little more” from taxpayers. Mr Burnham refused to rule out wealth taxes.
The admission came as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warned that taxes were already too high in Britain.
The Paris-based organisation urged Mr Burnham to reconsider more than £12bn of tax rises made by Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, amid growing fears for jobs and growth.
In an interview with Gary Lineker for Goalhanger podcasts, Mr Burnham said he would take his time to “properly look at the state of things” with the nation’s finances.
Asked about the possibility of a wealth tax, the prime minister-in-waiting said: “I’m not going to rule things out right now.
“I do believe we need a greater sense of fairness and people feeling that things are being done in the right way and a fair way.”
He added: “Decisions to be taken in time, they’re going to be difficult. I’m not going to shy away from that. We are going to have to work quite hard to make sure we can pay our way.
“And at some point that might be having to ask for a little more. But, you know, those decisions are not for now. They’re for another day.”
Mr Burnham has previously said the country has “overtaxed jobs [and] undertaxed wealth” and he is widely expected to launch a review of capital gains tax (CGT) later this year.
He has pledged to remain within the party’s manifesto pledges on tax, including not to raise VAT, income tax or National Insurance.
But his comments on Wednesday indicate that he is looking at other changes to personal taxation, which could include the equalisation of GCT with income tax.
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative Party leader, said on X: “Andy Burnham isn’t even prime minister yet but he’s already talking about raising your taxes AGAIN.”
Robert Jenrick, Reform UK’s Treasury spokesman, said that Mr Burnham had “admitted he will hike people’s taxes” but “won’t say which ones”.
The OECD said on Wednesday that repeated tax raids and Ms Reeves’s £25bn jobs levy were driving up the cost of living.
It said Britain’s record tax burden meant the new prime minister would have to focus on spending cuts to balance the books, cautioning against further raids on households and businesses.
In a stark analysis, the Paris-based think tank also said Britain’s youth jobs crisis now threatened the future of the state pension as it called for the triple lock to be scrapped.
