Sam Bowman writes on Tax Freedom Day for Conservative Home

Deputy Director Sam Bowman writes on Tax Freedom Day for Conservative Home:

Benjamin Franklin said that only two things in life are inevitable: death and taxes. Death is more permanent, but it comes just once in our lives. Taxes are ever-present.

What’s worse, most of us only have a vague idea about how much tax we’re actually paying. 20 per cent? Well, that’s income tax, but we pay National Insurance on our income, too, which adds another 12 per cent. What’s left is taxed when we spend it.

Read the full article here.

The ASI calculates Tax Freedom Day by measuring local taxes, direct and indirect national taxes, and national insurance contributions as a proportion of the UK’s net national income (41.2% per cent in 2015), mapping that proportion onto the days of the year.

Tax Freedom Day figures are not available up-to-date for calendar years so they are proxied from government and OBR forecasts and financial year numbers. They are then revised when exact numbers become available.

Click here for more information on previous Tax Freedom Days and Cost of Government Days.