Lifetime tax bill to reach £825,000

The research found that a family with average household earnings of £41,027 would pay £826,030 in direct and indirect taxes over the course of a lifetime, a 2.7 per cent increase on the figure calculated last year.

The TPA analysis suggests the bill includes £287,963 in income tax, £169,371 in VAT, £107,045 in national insurance contributions and £65,068 in council tax.

The lifetime bill is calculated in 2014/15 prices and is based on a working household’s direct and indirect taxes for 44 years and then a retired household’s tax bill for 15 years.

The TPA analysis found that the average family in the poorest fifth of households would pay a lifetime total of £319,732 in tax - an increase of 2.2 per cent - while an average household in the top 20 per cent would pay a lifetime tax bill of £1,686,970, up 4.3 per cent.

The calculations, based on Office for National Statistics data, indicates that the total tax bill for an average household is the equivalent of 20 years of income.

TPA chief executive John O’Connell said: “Politicians are forever lamenting the high cost of living yet all the while adding to the burden through higher taxes.

“Tax bills for households in every income group have gone up over the last year and that has obvious implications on hard-pressed families, already struggling with ever-rising bills.

“If we are to start living within our means as a country the Government simply must tighten its belt and take the task of finding savings seriously. With a new administration in place, now is the time to introduce radical reforms to our tax system and spending priorities to ease the pressure on ordinary taxpayers and boost economic growth.”