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--------------------------------------------------------------------------- WAITING LONGER FOR TAX FREEDOM... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The average Brit will spend one extra day working for the government, as a result of the tax rises in this week's Budget. In 2002, it turns out, we laboured until 1st June before we had earned enough to pay off the Chancellor's demands. This year, it is going to be 2nd June before we at last start working for ourselves. And there's worse to come. In 2004, Tax Freedom Day won't arrive until 7th June. By 2005, it will be a whole week later, at 9th June. And that's just on the basis of the Chancellor's figures -- which have been over-optimistic before! But it gets worse still... -------------------------- The Chancellor has only managed to keep the tax burden this 'low' (ha!) because he is borrowing more to make up the difference between his tax receipts and his public spending. But sooner or later, borrowing has to be paid for -- by us taxpayers, of course. If we add in the burden of this deficit it turns out that the 'real' Tax Freedom Day in 2002 was 11th June, rising to 12th June this year. That's nearly half the year we spend working for the Treasury! Find out more about Tax Freedom Day, how much lower the burden was in previous years, interesting anniversaries, and how to celebrate Tax Freedom Day, at http://www.taxfreedomday.co.uk. The art of stealth... --------------------- With this budget, the Chancellor has raised stealth taxation to an art. Measures announced in the budget -- which will get all the headlines - will cost the Treasury 505 million pounds -- approximately 0.1% of total tax revenues. But measures announced last year or earlier, but taking effect now, will bring in an extra 4.2 billion pounds -- eight times as much. Had it not been for them, Tax Freedom Day could have fallen two days earlier. And if Mr Brown had left National Insurance contributions alone, TFD would have been 30th May! Would the last person to leave the country please turn off the lights? e -- Dr Eamonn Butler Adam Smith Institute, 23 Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3BL, UK E-mail butler@adamsmith.org - Visit us online at www.adamsmith.org Tel +44 (0)20 7222 4995 - Fax +44 (0)20 7222 7544 To unsubscribe, visit www.adamsmith.org/lists.htm
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