18 days till tax freedom

This year, the average UK taxpayer will work until the last day of May just to pay their share of the Government's tax bill. 'Tax Freedom Day', as it has become known, used to fall in early April. It peaked in 1982, and then fell until Tory chancellor Kenneth Clarke began raising the UK tax burden again. Now, under New Labour, the trend has clearly moved upwards.

In fact, within the next three years, Britain is forecast to pay more than 40% of its annual GDP in taxation.