'Tax Freedom Day' getting later

Tax rises have pushed the date back

Sunday is the day when the average UK worker will have earned enough to pay off their annual tax bill.

The Adam Smith Institute think-tank has calculated 30 May is Tax Freedom Day - and it has arrived three days later than last year.

That is a sign the tax burden on the average person has risen, it says.

In the US the theoretical Tax Freedom Day is on 11 April, while in the euro zone it is 28 June, the think-tank says.

'Stealth taxes'

The rise in National Insurance contributions and petrol prices has also meant that Tax Freedom Day is later than previous years, according the right-wing think-tank.

Gordon Brown is taking about £6bn a year out of pensions and there are taxes you don't notice Dr Eamonn Butler, Director of the Adam Smith Institute

Dr Eamonn Butler, Director of the Adam Smith Institute, has predicted that next year the date will be a day later than 2004.

"After that who knows what might happen. There are plenty of stealth taxes.

"The Chancellor Gordon Brown is taking about £6bn a year out of pensions and there are taxes on all sorts of things that you don't notice.

"Certainly, we are spending more on public services than we have been and people look at the growth in public sector employment.

"Private sector employment isn't growing at all in this country. I'm not convinced that the extra spending goes into delivering much better services," Dr Butler said.

Tax variations

In the US the tax burden on the average citizen is generally lower than it is in the UK.

Recent tax cuts there mean workers enjoyed their Tax Freedom Day on April 11, the earliest for 37 years.

However, in the Euro zone earners will not stop working for their governments until June 28.

In Denmark and Sweden taxpayers have to work until the end of July.