𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

This Labour Government has been successful at one thing: squeezing already hard-pressed taxpayers for more cash in a brutal and unfair fashion. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has declared that the UK is raising taxes faster than any other major global economy and, at the current rate, will see the UK hit a post-Second World War high, rising by 4.5 percentage points. That is a whopping five times the average compared to other advanced economies and will see the UK’s tax-to-GDP ratio (the share of national income the Government collects in taxes) reach 42% by 2031.

What fuels this form of monetary mugging? Key decisions by Chancellor Rachel Reeves are designed to boost the Treasury’s cash reserves. Reeves is squeezing taxpayers further with her Budget announcement of an extension of the freeze on income tax thresholds until 2031 – this will see more workers paying more as they are dragged into tax bands off the back of pay increases.

This form of increased taxation has been used by many governments over the years and is not only pernicious but also unfairly punishes workers for receiving a pay increase or a promotion. As anyone who is trying to run a business in these challenging times will tell you, the Chancellor’s decision to increase employer national insurance contributions means that for every person employed by a business, the Treasury gets more.

Ms Reeves is desperate to get her hands on more of our dosh for all kinds of reasons – chiefly to keep paying the eye-watering debt payments on UK borrowing, which currently stand at around £105 billion a year.

Failure to face down Labour MPs who rebel against cuts to spending, most notably welfare, will only see Reeves pick up the slack by borrowing more. Aside from the Government’s borrowing addiction that we grafters, savers or investors have to fund, what else are we getting for our money?

The Prime Minister got very excited earlier this month about the roll-out of ‘free’ breakfast clubs for every primary school in England at a cost of £80 million. But while nobody wants to see a child start their school day hungry, many taxpayers view it as picking up the tab for parents who cannot be bothered to feed their children properly in the first place.

After all, we manage it as mums and dads, as did our parents before us in more extreme financial times, so is this really the best use of taxpayer cash? Many will understandably say not.

The reasons to bristle at the increased tax burden and question what we are getting in return are endless. We still have NHS waiting lists running into the millions despite record NHS funding, and all the while, doctors continue to strike as they are still not happy with the inflation-busting pay increases they received since Labour came into power.

As we have sadly seen in recent weeks, with senior military officers speaking out, our armed forces remain hollowed out while the government continues to procrastinate over publishing its much-delayed and needed Defence Investment Plan. Our borders continue to be poorly protected with small boat crossings across the English Channel by migrants continuing to boom despite Starmer and pals blowing millions of pounds on various schemes designed to stop these sailings.

On top of this, the cost of housing migrants in hotels or other accommodation is costing taxpayers billions of pounds. Are you aware that illegal migrants can access legal aid? They may have access to legal aid in certain circumstances, particularly for detention cases, asylum applications and human rights issues.

The British taxpayer, as always, forks out for this which anyone who works hard for a living will find utterly absurd.

Away from the national picture, local taxpayers also feel the pain as they get ripped off by their local council. The Town Hall Rich List 2026 has just been published by the TaxPayers’ Alliance campaigning group.

It reveals that 320 council employees actually earn more than the prime minister and that one bankrupt council saw a director receive over £280,000 in total remuneration. So the next time your local council pleads poverty, do take a look at how much they pay their senior members of staff.

When it comes to national and local taxation, our pips have stopped squeaking and are now screaming in despair as we fork out more, get less or see vast amounts of unjust or wasteful spending. Taxpayers are being brutalised under this government, and it will only get worse the longer they remain in power.