May 31 is tax freedom day
According to free market think-tank the Adam Smith Institute, May 31 is the day that Britons stop working for the government and start working for themselves.
It estimates that the average Briton spends the first five months of the year working to pay their taxes.
And this time is growing each year. The think-tank says that an average individual had to work three days longer in 2005 than in 2004 and five days longer than in 2003.
It claims that the bulk of this year’s rise is down to rise in National Insurance, council tax and ‘stealth’ taxes.
Director Dr Eamonn Butler said that the overall tax situation was too complicated and repeated Conservative allegations that there have been 66 stealth tax rises under Labour.
Dr Butler said: “The result of all this stealth and complexity is that people do not understand just how much tax they really pay. But if we put it in terms of how many days the average person has to work solely in order to pay taxes: that brings it home to people.
“This year the average taxpayer – an average, not a super-rich taxpayer – spends five months enslaved to the Chancellor. But we are not getting value for that effort we are putting in. Surely it is time for us tax serfs to break free?”
But chief executive of IFA Promotion suggested that overall UK residents pay £5.7 billion a year more in tax than they need to.
David Elms said: “No one likes paying tax, yet nine in ten of us are paying more than we should and three quarters admit to doing nothing about it.”
Key advice from IFA Promotions on reducing individual tax liabilities includes making sure full ISA allowances are used and submitting tax self-assessment forms on time.
