There is now a real danger that middle income Britons could end up paying Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s 55 percent ‘horror’ pension tax and 40 percent inheritance tax to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). Or maybe both of these punitive levies.

As Sunak scrambles for ways to fund his Covid bailouts and close the deficit, the tax burden will rise for tens of millions.

The super rich may still escape, as they employ tax consultants to reduce their bills, but ordinary taxpayers will end up footing the bill instead.

Many still believe you have to own landed estates to pay inheritance tax (IHT), but they’re wrong.

Incredibly, the £325,000 threshold at which IHT is charged has been frozen since 2009, more than a dozen years ago.

Sunak is now freezing it for another five years, until the 2025/26 tax year. The £175,000 main residence allowance, for passing on family homes to direct descendants, has also been frozen for five years.

That means more of us will be dragged into the net every year, as house and share prices rise.

Even somebody with the average property, now worth £273,000 according to Halifax, could get caught in a couple of years out if today’s house price growth continues.

It is incredible to see how inheritance tax has become an everyday threat, and the process will continue, year after year.

So check whether your loved ones could face a stinging bill after you pass on, because they could.

Remember, IHT is charged at a punitive 40 percent on all assets above the nil-rate thresholds, taking £40,000 of every £100,000 you leave behind.

You can reduce your exposure by making gifts to loved ones, but you have to play by HMRC’s rules.

Christmas is a great time for gifting, so start planning now.

READ MORE: Christmas is a time for gifting – slash inheritance tax bills

Inheritance tax is not the only tax that is changing in nature. The pensions lifetime allowance was originally targeted at the very wealthy, too.

If their pension savings exceeded £1.8 million, they would have to hand over 55 percent of the surplus to HMRC.

Few complained when they thought only the super rich would pay, but that is no longer the case as the lifetime allowance has been steadily slashed to £1,073,000.

That may still look high but this is applied to all your lifetime workplace and personal pension savings.

You may not exceed it today, but you could later. The tax is “horrifically” complex, according to AJ Bell head of retirement policy at AJ Bell Tom Selby, so many get caught out.

Sunak has also frozen the lifetime allowance for five years, until 2025/26, which will drag yet more ordinary pension savers into the net.

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It is a particular worry for those in defined benefit final salary schemes, as their pension is valued at 20 times their annual pension when calculating the lifetime allowance.

Someone with an annual pension of just £30,000 will see it valued at £600,000 for lifetime allowance purposes.

Does that sound fair? Hardly. But then the lifetime allowance isn’t fair. It hits people who have done exactly what the Government wants them to do, and saved for their retirement so they’re not a burden on the state.

There are things you can do to reduce your exposure, for example, saving in a tax-free Isa instead of a pension.

We can expect more of this in the future. The Government will pretend it is taxing the very wealthy when it isn’t.

The rich are already taking action to avoid reduce their exposure. Now you should, too.