Stealth
Taxes
We
are paying 30 per cent more tax under New Labour, and that's after taking
inflation into account.
If
taxes had risen in line with prices, then we would be paying £347
billion in tax. But in actual fact we are paying £435 billion. And
that adds up to a whopping
£
96.5 billion in Stealth Taxes in today's money.
See
our breakdown of New Labour Stealth Taxes here
The
Treasury's own forecasts show the Government taxing us at levels not seen
for 25 years as a percentage of GDP.
We
are now on course to becoming a
bigger tax paying country than Germany and overtaking the OECD average.
A
selection of Gordon's most notorious Stealth Taxes
Tax
Bands
In
96-97 we paid £69 billion in income tax
in 04-05 we paid £123 billion in income tax
Income
tax allowances (the points at which you start paying a certain rate of tax)
have risen by far less than earnings, dragging more of us into the tax net.
In
2002, Brown did not bother to rise personal allowances at all.
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Since
Labour was elected in 1997, more than 4m extra people are paying income
tax — far outstripping the rise in employment — and 1.3m more
are paying tax at the top 40% rate. We are on schedule for another 750,000
higher-rate taxpayers in the next four years.
The
starting point for paying higher rate tax is now
set lower in the UK than almost all our competitors.
The
Great Pension Robbery (1997)
Pension funds are no long able to claim tax relief on dividends
they receive from shares. This costs our pensions around £5 billion
a year.
The
measure also hits, companies, charities, Peps, ISAs, non-residents, to the
tune of £2 billion a year
National Insurance Contributions (NICs)
(2002 budget effective 2003)
- Increase
in employees NICs equivalent of 1%
- Increase
in Employers and self Employed NICS of 1%
- Raising
the upper limit for NICs
New
Labour says this is not a rise in income tax, but it is a tax on your income.
In
96-97 we paid £47 billion in Nics
In 04-05 we paid £78 billion in Nics
That's a 35.5% stealth tax rise after taking inflation
into account.
Stamp
Duty
In
1997 you paid 1% to the Government in Stamp Duty when you sold your home
worth more than £60,000. Now you pay Stamp Duty as follows:
1%
on properties from £120.000 to £250,00 (this rose in 2005 budget
from a long standing freeze at £60,000).
3%
on properties from £250,000 to £500,000
4%
on properties worth over £500,000
In
96-97 we paid £2.3 billion in stamp duties
In 04-05
we paid £8.8 billion in stamp duites
That's
a 216% stealth tax rise after taking inflation into account
Council
Tax Increases
Central
Government helps the local councils out less, and you pay more.
The
bands by which houses are valued for council tax will be reassesed in 2007
adding several hundreds onto your bill.
In
96-97 we paid £10 billion in council tax
In 04-05 we paid £19.7 billion in council
That's a stealth tax rise of 61% after taking inflation into account.
Abolition
of Mortgage Tax Relief cut in 1997 then abolished in 2000.
You
used to get help with paying your mortgage in the form of a tax rebate -
no more
This
contribued to the rise in income tax
Abolition
of Married Couple's Allowance
Cut
in 1998 and abolished in 1999.
This
contributed to the rise in income tax
Fags
This
is an odd one. The Chancellor has relentlessly taxed fags, but he collected
£8 billion in 1997 and he collected £8 billion in 2004.
Why?
The Treasury reckons that 14.5% of cigarettes are smuggled. According
to a Radio 4 Report, the IRA are behind much of the smuggling.
Here
the Chancellor achieved a -16% fall in the tax-take after taking inflation
into account. The more he taxes, the less he gets.
Airline
Tax
Economy
Class
£5
for flights within Europe
£20 for flights outside Europe
First
Class
£10 within Europe
£40 outside Europe
(in
May 1997 this was £5 and £10 for both economy and first)
In
96-97 we paid £0.4 billion in airline passenger tax
in 04-05 we paid £0.9 biillion in airline passenger tax
That's
an 86% stealth tax rise after taking inflaiton into account
For
a full compendium of stealth taxes see the excellent Garbagegat
