Revealed: How your taxes have soared under Labour
THE crippling weight of taxation on the average family has risen by 51 per cent since Labour came to power, figures revealed last night.
Gordon Brown has presided over a tax burden soaring at more than twice the rate of inflation in real terms, according to the damning report by the TaxPayers’ Alliance.[>
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And households were last night warned to expect an even worse squeeze from the Treasury after Government borrowing soared to a record £10.4billion last month.[>
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Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Ordinary taxpayers have seen their bills rise and rise but our services have not improved in return.[>
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“With the credit crunch tightening its grip, it’s clear the country is poorly prepared for tough economic conditions, and it is Gordon Brown who is to blame.”[>
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TAX BURDEN[>
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The total burden on British taxpayers has risen from £223billion in 1997-98 to a staggering £517billion in 2007-08, a rise of 51 per cent once inflation is taken into account.[>
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It is equivalent to the amount of tax levied on each household a year rocketing from £9,200 in 1997-98 to £21,500 in 2007-08.[>
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The report also pointed to a worrying increase in red-tape, adding: “The size of the British tax code has doubled and the cost of administering the tax system has increased by at least 75 per cent.”[>
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PENSIONS[>
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Gordon Brown’s tax raid on pensions in his time as Chancellor and Prime Minister has cost private pension funds between £100billion and £150billion through lower dividends and reduced growth.[>
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As a result, the number of private-sector workers with pensions has fallen 41 per cent in the past 12 years.[>
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At the same time, the number of public sector workers with largely unfunded defined benefit pensions has increased by one million since 1995. The estimate of public sector pension liabilities now stands at more than £1trillion – almost £40,000 per household.[>
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PRODUCTIVITY[>
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The UK is lagging behind all other English-speaking countries in terms of economic growth.[>
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Had Britain matched US levels since Labour came to power in 1997, our gross domestic product would have been £14billion higher by 2006.[>
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British workforce productivity also continues to lag behind that of many other countries, and the rate at which the UK was catching up with better-performing nations has slowed since 1997.[>
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BUDGET DEFICIT[>
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Between 1997 and 2008 the UK went from having only the 13th largest budget deficit in the developed world to having the 5th largest.[>
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The Treasury has consistently over-estimated tax receipts and underestimated public spending.[>
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PUBLIC SERVICES[>
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Despite vast increases in NHS spending since 1997, the rate of improvement in performance has not increased. Similarly, large increases in schools expenditure have not helped halt a fall in Britain’s international standing.[>
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The number of young people not in employment, education or training has also risen.[>
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Spending on law and order has increased but recorded crime has risen by nine per cent and violent crime has leapt 275 per cent in the past ten years.[>
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Public spending on transport has more than doubled but the UK still has fewer miles of motorway per car than all other major EU economies.[>
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INFLATION[>
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In the last ten years, the British rate of inflation and interest rates have been on average higher than those in the USA and European countries with the euro currency, suggesting that the low rates we have experienced are more an effect of international conditions than Government policies.[>
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The complexity and cost of the welfare and benefits system has boomed under Mr Brown.[>
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WELFARE[>
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It has left many people trapped on benefits and undermined incentives to work, shown by a 147 per cent rise in the number of people who lose 60 per cent or more of any increase in their income through taxes and lost benefits.[>
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Responding to the report, Philip Hammond, Tory Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: “Gordon Brown has built our economy on a mountain of public and private debt, leaving Britain poorly prepared in the face of the current economic crisis.[>
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“This is yet more evidence of why we need a new fiscal framework to bring the public finances back under control – and a new government to implement it.”[>
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But a spokesman for the Treasury said: “The claims made about the UK’s tax burden are wrong. The fact is that, since 1997, all families on average earnings or less have seen their tax burden fall or remain unchanged.”[>
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And Yvette Cooper, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: “We are cutting taxes by over £4billion for low and middle-income families, and maintaining public sector investment to help families and the economy.”[>
