Jeremy Hunt has warned in next week's autumn statement that he will cut taxes for the rich while secretly attacking 36 million workers. The Prime Minister is reportedly considering a major cut in inheritance tax in his budget in order to increase the Conservative party's poll numbers ahead of next year's general election. Discussing tax cuts, Mr Hunt - who will deliver his Budget next week in the Commons - told the Telegraph that the economy had “turned a corner”. He told the newspaper: “The big message on tax cuts is there is a path to reducing the tax burden and a Conservative government will take that path.” And the Chancellor also told the BBC: “Nearly a million vacancies across the economy, so we do need to reform our welfare system.” But Adam Corlett, the principal economist at the Resolution Foundation, has said any pre-election tax cuts would effectively be funded by higher taxes on incomes. He warned the government’s six-year freeze in income tax thresholds had “turned from an £8bn ‘stealth’ tax to a gargantuan £40bn tax rise” because of higher inflation. “Any pre-election tax cuts – such as cutting inheritance tax for a small number of wealthy estates – would effectively be funded by higher taxes on the incomes of 36 million people,” he said. Ken Clarke, the former Conservative chancellor, told Times Radio that he did not think Hunt has any “headroom for tax cuts”. He warned: “Choosing inheritance tax at the present time might appeal to the Conservative right, but it leaves them open to the most appalling criticisms when inflation and the state of affairs is making poorer people in this country very vulnerable indeed.” Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the TUC, said: “Only a tiny proportion of estates pay inheritance tax in the UK. Raiding the public purse to line the pockets of the rich is the last thing the country needs."