Taxing Times

Ouch....

Britons are paying almost £1.5billion a week more in tax than they were in 1997, the year Labour came to power, according to official figures.

The total direct tax take for the last tax year was £172billion, up 11pc from the previous figure of £155.5billion, statistics released by HM Revenue & Customs show. That is equivalent to an increase of £317m a week in the last year alone. In 1996/97, the total direct tax take was just under £104billion.

...

These figures also do not include National Insurance receipts, as the Government does not consider them "taxes". It is estimated that NI receipts for 2004/5 would be £77.9billion.

So why is El Gordo's level of borrowing soaring out of control?

Filed under: Politics, New Labour Spin