Employees can finally start earning for themselves rather than working for the Government today (Tuesday 29 May) - two days later than 2011, according to low tax campaigners.
The Adam Smith Institute said Tuesday marked this year’s Tax Freedom Day - the point in the calendar when Britons stop grafting for the Treasury and begin to earn for themselves.
Institute director, Eamonn Butler, said: ‘Tax Freedom Day, which the Adam Smith Institute has been calculating for 25 years, is the plainest way to show what the tax burden really is.
"That is why the Treasury hates it. They of course want to conceal how much tax we pay, which is why they are so keen on stealth taxes."
The institute – factors in levies such as VAT, income tax, excise duties, national insurance, council tax, air passenger taxes, fuel and vehicle taxes in its calculations.
Butler said the double-dip recession, high personal taxes and 20% VAT rate had led to the date being put back 48 hours compared with last year.
He added: ‘The stark truth is that this burden costs us all 149 days of hard labour every year.
‘That's not how long a rich person has to work - it is the time the average person must labour for the tax collectors.
‘In the Middle Ages a serf only had to work four months of the year for the feudal landlord, whereas in modern Britain people have to toil five months for Osborne’s tax gatherers.’
The UK’s Tax Freedom Day falls way after Australia’s on 4 April and the USA’s, on 17 April 17.
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