Are we now paying the price for tax rises over the last decade?
While there is no doubt that the ongoing recession was brought about by the collapse in the US banking system, which subsequently spread to around Europe and the rest of the world, is a recovery in the UK economy being held back by the ever-increasing number of taxes on everyday life?
The last decade in particular has seen a massive number of stealth tax introduced to the UK as well as significant changes in taxation allowances. Many people will be unaware but by increasing taxation allowances by less than inflation, in effect more and more people are being brought deeper and deeper into the taxation system with more and more money for the UK government. In the boom times this is no problem as the constant growth in the economy translates into increased income which effectively means increased taxes often go unnoticed.
However, there is a feeling that the UK recession may be deeper and longer than it should be because of the increased cost of living in the UK and the onset of higher taxes to pay back ever growing national debt. While Gordon Brown was known as "prudence" in his time at the Treasury there is no doubt that this tag left him some time ago.
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