Tax hikes and soaring bills will deliver the biggest shock to household incomes for almost half a century, and risk knocking the UK’s fragile economic recovery off course, experts have warned. A person earning £30,000 will see their take-home pay plunge by £1,660 thanks to soaring living costs, stagnant wages and tax increases, according to new calculations by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). The effective pay cut includes paying £250 more in national insurance contributions and £150 more in income tax. Poorer households, which spend more of their incomes on essentials like energy, will be hit even harder, ... (full story)