Contractors grafting even longer to pay tax

Contractors and other workers have spent just a little over 24 hours so far this year earning for themselves, as so-called ‘Tax Freedom Day’ fell on Sunday.

The landmark day, celebrated every year by the Adam Smith Institute, was slightly earlier last year, meaning it is taking longer for the average worker to pay off their annual tax bill.

The longer wait before being able to earn for oneself suggests the Office of Tax Simplification faces an uphill struggle, but the institute said the increase wasn’t “significant”.

The day has been stuck at the end of May for most of the last thirteen years, and has fallen progressively later in the year since 2010 – ironically, the year that OTS was set up.

However, Britons are still working significantly longer to pay off their tax share than their counterparts in the US, where this year Tax Freedom Day fell on April 24^th.

So while Britons work 150 days of the year solely to pay their taxes (including National Insurance and VAT), Americans labour for much less to pay off their taxman - 114 days.

Pointing to the later date in the UK, the institute said it was a “reminder that the Government needs to make tax cuts a priority in this Parliament.”