Workers in pay of taxman for longer

TAXPAYERS will have to work until July 26 to pay for the cost of government in 2012 – three days longer than in 2007, according to the Taxpayers Alliance.

The organisation said that the average person will now have to work for 208 days in order to pay for their share of the cost of government spending and regulation. When it last ran its calculations four years ago it was July 23.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpayers should be looking forward to toasting in the New Year, instead the enormous cost of Government spending and regulation means they will effectively be working for the Government until the summer.

“Government spending and expensive regulations are costing more than half of ordinary people’s income and this simply cannot go on.

“The Government needs to cut spending, get rid of burdensome regulations and cut taxes to get the economy going and leave more taxpayers’ money in their own pockets.”