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Tax Freedom Day - links Print E-mail
Exclusive finance
 
Lombard Street Research www.lombardstreetresearch.com
They provide accurate economic forecasts and insights for strategic decision-makers ­ our author, Swedish economist Gabriel Stein, is a director there.
 
Lowtax.Net www.lowtax.net
Get away from it all! This info-packed site gives you the complete lowdown on offshore tax havens
 
Latest news and events about tax, and how to avoid it
 
Investors Offshore www.investorsoffshore.com
Where to go to make investments free of Brown Tax
 
Taxpayers' Alliance www.taxpayersalliance.com
New campaign group calling for lower taxes
 
A wealth of tax-related information, plus on-line calculators
 
Fixed-fee services for tax returns, accounts and tax planning ­ the specialists in filling out those boring self-assessment forms
 
The Institute for Fiscal Studies www.ifs.org.uk
Calculate your personal tax burden and learn more than you ever really wanted to know about tax policy in the UK!
 
The Chartered Institute of Taxation www.tax.org.uk
The ultimate tax techies.
 
National Audit Office www.nao.org.uk/
At least somebody out there is getting to grips with government waste...
 
Recent reports from the people¹s profligacy watchdogs
 
Reports from the House of Commons public-spending scrutineers
 
The Baddies
 
The root of our problems, of course
 
H M Revenue & Customs www.hmrc.gov.uk
Dabba dabba dabba dabba - VATman!
 
10 Downing Street www.number-10.gov.uk
Gordon Brown (who works from Number 11) actually lives here, while Tony Blair (who works from here) actually lives in Number 11. Confusing, isn't it? And these guys are actually running the country?
 
The Bank of England www.bankofengland.co.uk
Born in 1694 (along with the national debt) and still going strong (along with the national debt)
 
Overseas
 
The Tax Foundation www.taxfoundation.org
These pioneers have been calculating Tax Freedom Day for the US since 1929! Can you believe that?
 
The Fraser Institute www.fraserinstitute.ca
A Canadian policy think-tank that also has a cool calculator for people to work out how much Ottawa is lifting from them!
 
Canadian Taxpayers Federation www.taxpayer.com
A dynamic group, but with Canada's tax rates they have to be
 
Americans for Tax Reform www.atr.org
An effective US taxpayer group, producing policy briefs, tax alerts, op-eds and much more
 
US Internal Revenue www.irs.ustreas.gov
Direct to their newspaper, The Digital Daily, which contains useful information for US taxpayers
 
Swedish Taxpayers Association www.skattebetalarna.se
One of the world's most active taxpayer associations
 
National Taxpayers Conference www.statetaxes.net
A network of state-level taxpayers associations in the US
 

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.

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.

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