New report highlights UK pension crisis

British taxes must rise £82bn (€94.6bn) a year to balance health costs and underfunded state pension investments, an economic research body said.

Britain's National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) warned that higher taxes amounting to 6% of GDP should be implemented to help future generations avoid large tax rises or service cuts.

The think tank claimed Britain will have to find £7 trillion (€8.07 trillion) in taxes over the next 100 years.

This is money in addition to planned taxes and based on forecasts of growth, interest rates and inflation.

The NIESR said in its paper "Generational Accounts in the United Kingdom" that a child born today will pay £68,000 (€78,440) more in taxes over its lifetime than it gets back in pensions and health provision.

But a child born in the next decade will need to pay £160,000 (€184,566) extra.

The paper states: "One might think that, in a steady state, the net contribution would be zero.

"However, there is a past history of pay-as you-go benefits, which has allowed earlier generations to receive more from the state than they have contributed over their lifetimes and it is inevitable that there is now a net contribution which has to be paid."

Today's over-50s have the majority of wealth and younger workers have been left paying higher mortgages than baby boomers born between 1947 and 1964.

The NIESR's attempt to produce intergenerational accounts for the UK was based on a 3% interest rate and the current economic outlook established by the Office for Budget Responsibility, the government's independent fiscal watchdog.

The accounts show "on plausible assumptions about future spending pressures, taxes and spending will need to adjust by about 6-6.5% of GDP over time, relative to the projections, to bring the generational accounts into balance".