Today is Tax Freedom Day. That means that the average person in Britain has to work 148 days of the year solely to pay taxes. Only on Tax Freedom Day do we at last start earning for ourselves.
This year there is a faint chink of cheer, in that Tax Freedom Day falls three days earlier than it did in 2013. But we still have to labour for nearly five months just to meet the demands of the tax collectors.
But what you pay in taxes this year isn’t the whole story. Remember that the government spends even more than it raises, and it borrows the difference. Despite all the talk of ‘austerity’, the current government borrows about £1 for every £5 it spends.
So crafty Chancellors could limit the burden of taxes today, and prevent Tax Freedom Day drifting later in the year, simply by borrowing instead of taxing.
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