Tax paid exceeds the minimum wage

A report in the Daily Telegraph finds that taxpayers each contributed over £7 an hour to the Treasury in the form of personal taxes last year - a figure higher than the minimum wage. The tax base is shrinking as more people experience unemployment and the number of business failures rises. This puts increased pressure on remaining taxpayers to stump up the cash to pay for government spending. Given the cavernous gap between state spending and tax receipts, we are fast reaching an inflexion point when millions of taxpayers say enough is enough. The rising tax burden must eventually have a negative impact on work incentives and on enterprise. Indeed the Treasury seem to have recognised that the recent hike in top rate taxation to 50% for high income earners will bring little or no extra tax revenue - certainly compared to the £175bn (+) budget imbalance.

“Presuming each of the 29.3 million taxpayers in the country works an eight-hour day, and takes the standard four weeks off plus bank holidays, they contributed on average £7.27 for every hour that they worked. In the previous year, 31.6 million taxpayers contributed £6.63 an hour.”

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Unit 2 Macro: Cyclical and Structural Economic Issues Facing the UK [23 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Evaluation on Supply-Side Policies [21 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Migration and the UK Economy [20 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: The Output Gap [20 May 2012]
Revision notes on unemployment [20 May 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Economics of Cocoa Prices [12 May 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Economics of a Minimum Wage [12 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Revision Notes on Supply-side Policies [10 May 2012]
Unit 3 Micro: The Dawn of a Shareholder Spring? [8 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Unemployment Glossary [5 May 2012]
Macro Revision: Putting Things in Context [29 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Adecco and Monopsony Power [22 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: The Collapsing Price of Carbon [3 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision on Producer Subsidies [2 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision on Producer Cartels [31 Mar 2012]
Where does my money go? [20 Mar 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: The Tax on Beer [16 Mar 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Policies to Drive Economic Recovery [9 Mar 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Highest and Lowest Paid Jobs in the UK [26 Feb 2012]
Unit 3 Micro: Low Pay in Supermarkets [24 Feb 2012]
10 Solutions to Binge Drinking [21 Feb 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Public Goods [11 Feb 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Winning the War on Deforestation [5 Feb 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Can the UK Computer Games Industry Grow [24 Jan 2012]
France and Flexible Employment [22 Jan 2012]
Petrol, tax, and the downward sloping demand curve. [17 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Videos on Productivity [17 Jan 2012]
Unit1 Micro: Can a minimum wage create jobs? [16 Jan 2012]
Economics at the Movies - Freakonomics [9 Jan 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Externalities from Metal Theft [2 Jan 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Biomass Subsidies and Timber Prices [30 Dec 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Sub Normal Profits - BP Leaves the Solar Industry [21 Dec 2011]
Economics of Deforestation [20 Dec 2011]
Prezi on Information Failures [20 Dec 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Long Term Unemployment - A Human Story [15 Dec 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Will a Youth Jobs Subsidy Work? [30 Nov 2011]
Behavioural Economics: Herd Behaviour [28 Nov 2011]
Ten Things About Tax [23 Nov 2011]
LSE lecture: Darwin economy [13 Nov 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Video Clips on Unemployment [6 Nov 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Impulses to Change Management Models [5 Nov 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Time of Use Pricing for Energy [2 Nov 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Should TNCs make full disclosure on factory wages? [30 Oct 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: UK Executive Pay - All in it Together? [29 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Is the Sun Dipping on Solar Subsidies? [27 Oct 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Drop Box and Freemium [18 Oct 2011]
Alcohol. Discuss! [18 Oct 2011]
Can the “invisible hand” solve Africa’s poverty? [13 Oct 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Unit Labour Costs and Inflation [12 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Copper prices and a copper crime wave [10 Oct 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Monospony Power and Low Wages in Care Homes [3 Oct 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Tube Drivers set to earn £50,000 a year [3 Oct 2011]
NMW: Classical real-wage unemployment [3 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: The Supply and Demand Rap! [28 Sep 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Drink Driving and Government Intervention [26 Sep 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Exercise on Market Supply [26 Sep 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Economic Growth and Inequality [14 Sep 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Income and Wealth in the UK [12 Sep 2011]
50% tax rates - Chuck it George [7 Sep 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Dangers of High Inflation [11 Jul 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Reducing Unemployment after a Recession [11 Jul 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Oligopsony - Dairy Losses Drive Farmers from the Fields [10 Jul 2011]
Glastonbury, rain, mud, abandoned tents and negative externalities. [4 Jul 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Are carbon taxes ineffective? [20 Jun 2011]
AQA ECON4 Context [20 Jun 2011]
Poor Economics - Esther Duflo at the LSE [3 Jun 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Supply-Side Policies [25 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Deflation [24 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Cost Push Inflation [24 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Inflation [24 May 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Monopsony Power in Markets [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: High and Low Marginal Cost Products [19 May 2011]
Super-cooperators and Game Theory [19 May 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Perfect Competition [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Innovation Efficiency and Welfare [18 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Ownership and Control in Modern Businesses [18 May 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Diseconomies of Scale [18 May 2011]
Dominos Pizza turns to Behavioural Economics [5 May 2011]
AS Micro Revision: Public and Private Goods [21 Apr 2011]
Key AS Micro Terms: Prices [15 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Frictional Unemployment [11 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Real Disposable Income [11 Apr 2011]
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RES Essay Competition - Obesity and a Fat Tax [7 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Fiscal Austerity [6 Apr 2011]
Information Failures: Tesco and Second Hand Cars [3 Apr 2011]
AS Micro Revision: Banana Prices [1 Apr 2011]
The Power of Incentives [31 Mar 2011]
Focus on Spain [16 Mar 2011]
Combining monetary and fiscal policy to curb inflation in China [16 Feb 2011]
Economics Q&A: Should the CAP be scrapped? [14 Feb 2011]
Shareholder activism at Thomas Cook [12 Feb 2011]
Migrants’ Transfers and the Balance of Payments [11 Feb 2011]
EU Economics: Hopes for a low carbon future in Europe [3 Feb 2011]
How Much Do I Earn? [1 Feb 2011]
Youth Unemployment in the UK [24 Jan 2011]
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Economics Q&A: What are some of the benefits and drawbacks of a period of rising world food prices [4 Jan 2011]
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