And finally…Average UK family now working 19 years just to pay taxes

The figure, arrived at as a result of research carried out by the Taxpayers Alliance, means that the average Briton is now working for nearly 19 years just to pay their tax bill.

The Taxpayers’ Alliance has totted up the total tax paid throughout a person’s life, both in working and retirement years, and found that the average household would be liable for a grand total of £734,240 (in 2013-14 prices) in direct and indirect taxes. That figure represents a 2.3 percent increase on the calculation from the previous year.

The figure represents an increase in overall tax for all but the wealthiest 20 percent.

At the bottom end of the scale, the poorest 20 percent would be in line to pay £282,545 in direct and indirect taxes, a 4.1 percent increase on the previous year’s calculation. But with an average salary in that bracket of just £12,916, it would take nearly 22 years for a household to pay the bill.

Meanwhile, the top 20 percent actually saw a 2.2 percent decrease in their lifetime liabilities, although they are still looking at a bill of £1,488,275.

The research found that the four most burdensome taxes over a lifetime are income tax, which cost on average £253,040 over a lifetime, followed by £146,775 on VAT, £92,795 on employees national insurance contributions, and £59,955 on council tax.

This order is not consistent across all brackets; for the bottom 40 percent, VAT presented the greatest burden (costing the bottom 20 percent £80,755 over their lifetimes), followed by council tax, then income tax, and finally, NI.

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “This new analysis shows just how heavy the burden of taxation falls on each and every family across Britain, pushing up the cost of living.

“Every arm of local and central government must redouble its efforts to root out unnecessary spending and inefficiency in everything they do, so that not a penny of this extraordinary bill is wasted. Britain’s tax bill is too high – it must come down, and that means cutting out wasteful spending.”