| Tax Freedom Day across the UK |
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 [THIS HAS NOT BEEN UPDATED FOR 2008] Northern Ireland is the highest-taxed part of the United Kingdom, and Wales the lowest-taxed, according to a new analysis by the Adam Smith Institute. The think-tank’s economic boffins looked at the tax bill paid by residents of different regions, and translated them into a ‘Tax Freedom Day’ for each area. The results reveal a ‘postcode lottery’ of tax burdens, depending on where you live. The Welsh have to work eight days less than the national average in order to pay off their tax bills, but Northern Ireland residents have to work four days more. Taxpayers in Wales will be working for Gordon Brown from January 1 until 23 May this year, while those in Northern Ireland will be slaving from 1 January until 5 June. Taxpayers in England are spot on the national average, working from 1 January to 1 June, while those in Scotland are taxed less, enjoying their freedom from the tax gatherers on 26 May. Variations within England There are significant variations within England, too. Lightest tax are Eastern England and Yorkshire & Humberside, with a Tax Freedom Day of 24 May, and the North East, with 29 May. The West Midlands is relatively lucky with a date of 31 May, while the North-West and South-West taxpayers have to work a day more, until 1 June. Highest taxed are the South-East (3 June) and London (5 June). It may come as no surprise that wealthy London and the South-East pay more taxes than the average, but the high tax burden in Northern Ireland may come as a shock to many. However, Northern Ireland has been growing fast, and tax revenues there are buoyant. The regional Tax Freedom Day dates are calculated on the basis of 2004 population statistics and tax revenues, uprated to reflect the national increase in the tax burden since that time.
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At a glance
- Tax Freedom Day is the day on which we stop working for the Chancellor and start working for ourselves.
- If the average person works from 1 Jan each year, it will be June before they have earned enough to pay their taxes.
- The tax burden isn’t just income tax and national insurance, it includes VAT, fuel taxed, alcohol and cigarette duties, airline tax, fuel duties, car tax and many, many more.
- The preferences for stealth taxes in the past few years has meant that it’s becoming harder for people to understand how much they are paying. The importance of Tax Freedom Day is that it detects stealth taxes.
- Government spending will reach £600 billion in 2008 – that's £10,000 for every man, woman and child in the UK, and twice as much as in 1997.
- If public spending had only grown in line with inflation since 1997, we could have abolished income tax, corporation tax, capital gains tax and inheritance tax, leaving the taxpayer £200 billion better off.
Tax Freedom Day
| Introduction |
| About Tax Freedom Day |
| History of TFD |
| Across the UK |
| Technical info |
| Dreary dates |
| Tax links |
| Around the world |
About the ASI
The Adam Smith Institute is the UK's leading innovator of free-market economic and social policies. Politically independent and non-profit, the Institute promotes its ideas through reports, briefings, events, media appearances, and its website and blog. For further information, click here.Join our email list
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