Under the so-called Conservative Party, the British public saw their tax burden rise at the second-highest rate among G7 nations in 2021.
Analysis conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that the United Kingdom’s tax burden increased faster than France, Italy, and the United States last year. The report found that Britain only lagged behind the leftist-controlled government of Germany within the G7 in terms of tax hikes.
It was also higher than traditionally high-tax countries such as Denmark, Finland, and Sweden.
The OECD said that the British tax burden has risen to the highest level since 1988 — and this did not take into account the recent tax hikes introduced by globalist finance minister Jeremy Hunt earlier this month.
The government’s independent taxation watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has said that the tax increases will take the total burden to the highest level since the Second World War, The Telegraph reports.
According to the OECD report, taxes as a share of GDP rose by 1.4 per cent in last year in Britain, reaching 33.5 per cent of the economy.
Though this is comparatively lower than some other European nations, with taxes in France, for example sitting at 45.1 per cent of GDP, it is expected that the high level of taxation in Britain will remain near national record highs into the next decade.
Earlier this month, finance chief Jeremy Hunt announced £55 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts to make up for the so-called ‘black hole’ in the public’s finances, largely created by the government’s decision to enact lockdowns during the Chinese coronavirus crisis.
The tax increases came on top of the £32 billion in hikes the government already announced in October.
The decision to increase taxes comes despite the fact that the Bank of England has predicted the United Kingdom will enter into the longest recession on record, and that the country has likely already entered into a recession after negative growth was recorded between the Q3 period between July and September.
The Resolution Foundation think tank has predicted that the recession, coupled with the tax hikes from the government, will mean that British workers will essentially be stripped of £15,000 in expected pay rises over the next five years, and that wages won’t return to their 2008 levels in real terms until 2027.
The think tank found that the government’s decision to impose more tax hikes will place a particular “squeeze” on the middle class, which will see a 3.7 per cent loss of income as a result.
The decision to raise taxes by the Conservatives comes in direct contrast to their 2019 election manifesto, upon which they were elected.
It is also the case that the party membership expressly rejected Rishi Sunak’s high-tax agenda during the summer leadership campaign to replace Boris Johnson.
Yet, while members overwhelmingly backed Liz Truss and her promises to cut taxes in order to spur economic growth, the parliamentary party conducted a globalist coup against her after she attempted to pass through mild tax cuts and she was ousted from office. They replaced her with Sunak without ordinary members being given a chance to vote again.
It should perhaps not be so surprising that the high level of taxation has come under Tory rule, as though the party often attempts to brand itself as the fiscally conservative party, during the decade-plus they have been in power taxes have been raised on over 1,000 occasions.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka
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