UK Tax Freedom Day

**English assassin** · 05-31-2005, 09:58

http://www.adamsmith.org/tax/index.php

Did you UK wage slaves wake up this morning with a spring in your step and a song on your lips? if so, that maybe because today is tax freedom day. Ie, for the average taxpayer, a sum equal to the whole of every day's wages you earned this year before today will have gone to pay your taxes to the government. The remaining seven months of the year you will be earning money for yourself, to spend on irresponsible private sector things like housing, food and books.

Hoo-bloody-ray. I wish Gordon Brown would spend ALL my money, he obviously knows I can't be trusted with it.

Make charitable donations fully tax deductable, up to a limit, that's what I say. I am all in favour of being civic minded but I hate politicians spending my money.

(An aside: did anyone else in the UK notice Tessa Jowell MP saying the public should say how lottery money is spent because "its the public's money not the government's money". The GOVERNMENT DOESN'T HAVE ANY MONEY, Tessa. That tax money is ours too. When I see the government flipping burgers in McDonalds is when the government will have its own money.)

**Al Khalifah** · 05-31-2005, 10:07

Does this figure include taxes on expenditure though? What about VAT, fuel tax, road tax, alcohol duty, savings tax, cigarette.....

The UK Government is brilliant at getting the money that it lets you spend as well.

**JAG** · 05-31-2005, 10:39

Ea I didn't realise you were one of the 'there is no govt money' nuts. Dear dear. The govt does have money and just because they are taxes, it doesn't mean it isn't their money. Are we to state we have no money because the money we get from our pay packet 'really belongs' to the companies we work for? Rubbish.

Taxes are our debt to society, taxes is the needed and justified giving of money to the government to spend on needed things for the country. To complain about taxes is to complain about schools, hospitals, libraries and street lighting!

**doc_bean** · 05-31-2005, 10:43

I think our tax freedom day is still almost two months away, you guys have it easy

**InsaneApache** · 05-31-2005, 10:45

Good grief Jag .....how is it the governments money?

I thought the government was there to manage the country because the rest of us have better things to do.

THEY are supposed to be our servents, not the other way around...still I s'pose coming from a socialist thats the prevelant mindset.

**JAG** · 05-31-2005, 10:48

They are our equals sure, they are not above us, but it is still their money, in fact no, it is everyones money. Mine, yours, EA's and the govts. It is simply the govt which spends that money, but it clearly is their money, just as much as anyone else's.

**InsaneApache** · 05-31-2005, 10:54

So a democratically elected government is the equal of the electorate? ....is this the rubbish they teach you guys these days?

No wonder half the cabinet send their kids to private schools.

**Al Khalifah** · 05-31-2005, 10:56

it is everyones money

Can I have mine back then? Since I am pretty certain I have not made use of the thousands of pounds worth of services I have paid for.

Soon taxes will be a thing of the past in the UK when they decide to replace them with speed cameras everywhere. Then after the speed cameras it'll be machines to see if you're swearing in public and fining you for that. Then they'll have drunk walking cameras which fine you if you walk in an irregular pattern around town centres.
Because who needs fair and understanding policemen when a cold and formulaic machine with no scope for context or circumstances can meat out judgement and punishment far more profitably?

**English assassin** · 05-31-2005, 11:06

JAG I am not against taxes. Or rather I am not against social spending, whether through charities or the government. By saying its our money not the governments I am not saying the idea of tax is bad, I am reminding Tessa et al that (1) the government doesn't actually generate any wealth, so she needs to be reasonably nice to those that do if she wants any tax at all and (2) don't expect me to be too grateful when you, say, send me a £250 child trust fund voucher because I am not quite so stupid to have forgotten that I have sent YOU a lot more money the other way.

The point of the thread is to say that five months out of twelve working for the government is really an awful lot. I don't have the slightest thing against services for the public, but the onus must now be on those who say we need MORE taxes, not on those who think maybe money could be better spent.

And yes, I gather in the Eurozone tax freedom day falls sometime in June or even July, bonkers.

**doc_bean** · 05-31-2005, 11:13

End of July here normally, I think we're last.

Al Khalifah we have speed cameras and cameras that check if you pass through a red light, the funny thing is that accidents have actually gone up, but the government refuses to remove them

**Al Khalifah** · 05-31-2005, 11:39

Because they're a convenient source of income and they can claim they are reducing crime by pointing out the number of people they've caught and fined.

If accidents are increasing, then they can just use this as an exucse to build more speed cameras etc.

I hear they plan to put speed cameras on motorways soon and they will be the average speed over distance monitoring sort. This is extremely dangerous, as any road safety official (not on the Governments pay roll) will tell you.

**KukriKhan** · 05-31-2005, 13:12

US's tax-freedom day this year was 17 April. It has been as late as May third (in 2000, see below).

I went to http://www.fraserinstitute.ca/index.asp and pretended I was Canadian from Ontario, using their calculator, my tax-freedom day is June 29th. Yikes!

http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxfreedomday/
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Table 1: Tax Freedom Day and Tax Burden, Selected Years 1900 - 2005

Year
Tax Freedom Day
Taxes as a Percentage of Income

1900
January 22
5.9%

1910
January 20
5.0%

1920
February 12
11.6%

1930
February 11
11.2%

1940
March 06
17.6%

1950
March 31
24.6%

1960
April 10
27.4%

1970
April 18
29.4%

1980
April 21
30.3%

1990
April 22
30.5%

2000
May 03
33.6%

2001
April 30
32.6%

2002
April 19
29.8%

2003
April 16
28.9%

2004
April 15
28.6%

2005
April 17
29.1%

Source: Office of Management and Budget; Internal Revenue Service; Congressional Research Service; National Bureau of Economic Research; Tax Foundation