Tax hikes in the last five years have raised an extra £16.4billion a year , equivalent of around £255 for every person in the UK . A new study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that by 2015-16 , will have imposed tax rises worth £64.3 billion while tax cuts have totalled only £48billion . The figures come ahead of George Osborne 's final Budget before the election , with Labour warning they lay bare the full extent of the government 's failure to fix the economy . Chancellor George Osborne , pictured today , is expected to use his Budget on Wednesday to announce a nother increase in the personal tax allowance . Tax rises introduced since 2010 include a £14 billion hike in VAT and a £5.2 billion increase in National Insurance contributions . At the same time the tax reductions of 48 billion include £8 billion from raising the personal threshold for income tax , £5.9 billion in cuts to corporation tax and £3.9 billion from real-terms reductions in fuel duties . However , the IFS said the changes were a 'missed opportunity to improve the tax system ' , because they had been introduced in a piecemeal way with little attempt to address 'fundamental structural deficiencies ' . Several of the changes have exacerbated 'unwelcome distortions ' in the system , said the IFS . It was difficult to find a 'good economic reason' for lifting ever-more lower-paid workers out of income tax while leaving National Insurance thresholds largely untouched , and it was an 'absurdity ' that the two taxes had not been integrated . Mr Osborne is expected to use Wednesday 's Budget to announce another big rise in the personal tax allowance . Deputy PM Nick Clegg said : ‘ The main thing the government can do is just take less of your money away from you . ‘ I very much want to give the biggest possible Workers ’ Bonus to millions of people on middle and low incomes . ' The study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that by 2015-16 , will have imposed tax rises worth £64.3 billion while tax cuts have totalled only £48billion . The IFS highlighted the 'problematic ' failure to uprate tax thresholds in line with inflation , and warned of a 'rapid ' increase in workers paying higher rates of income tax as the economy improves . Unless the phenomenon known as 'fiscal drag ' is dealt with , the number of families losing some or all of their child benefit will double within a decade , the report predicted . The report also warned that council tax had been allowed to get 'ever more out of date ' , with bands in England and Scotland based on property prices in 1991 . And it said that areas such as fuel duties and business rates had 'seen a stream of ad hoc , often temporary , announcements overtaking each other without a clear statement of principles or long-run intentions ' . Labour 's shadow chancellor Ed Balls said the Tory idea that cutting taxes for a few at the top means wealth will trickle down to everyone else hasn ’ t worked . Authors Stuart Adam and Barra Roantree said : 'There is a better way to make tax policy . The corporate tax road map was a good start , setting out a direction of travel and providing an element of predictability . The next government would be well advised to apply this approach to more elements of the tax system , and indeed to the tax system as a whole . 'That would help taxpayers to plan , provide a benchmark for assessing the policies actually implemented , and facilitate debate on whether the strategy laid out is the right one . Taking the time to articulate a strategy might even lead to the adoption of better tax policy . ' Labour 's shadow chancellor Ed Balls told the Standard : 'The old Tory idea that cutting taxes for a few at the top means wealth will trickle down to everyone else hasn ’ t worked . And once again , a Tory Chancellor is giving with one hand but taking away much more with the other . 'No pre-election tax cut can mask the £1,127 a year which the Institute for Fiscal Studies ( IFS ) says families have lost because of tax and benefit changes since 2010 — from higher VAT to cuts to tax credits . '
By 2015-16 coalition will have imposed tax rises worth £64.3 billion . At the same time tax cuts will have saved the country only £48billion . The government has also been forced to borrow more than it planned, which means that we are now paying interest on our debt at a higher rate than ever before in British history. George Osborne expected to announce more tax cuts in Budget next week .