UK may need €69bn in tax increases to balance the books after Covid crisis        

Warning from Institute for Fiscal Studies sets the tone for the UK's budget on March 3

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak is due to outline how he intends to address the ruinous legacy of a pandemic.

The UK could need tax increases of about £60bn (€69bn) if chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak wants to balance the books, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

The warning sets the tone for the UK's budget on March 3, when Mr Sunak is due to outline how he intends to address the ruinous legacy of a pandemic that has driven government borrowing to its highest in peacetime and forced him to deliver 13 emergency statements since he took office a year ago.