UK tax revenue as a percentage of GDP rose to 33.3 per cent in 2017, up from 32.7 per cent the previous year. Britain’s taxes are the highest since 1988 and above average for the past 50 years, new figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) show.
Income taxes made up around £186 billion of revenues for the Exchequer, around 9.1 per cent of GDP. VAT revenues are the largest source of consumption taxes across the OECD, at a record high of 6.8 per cent of GDP and an average 20.2 per cent of total tax revenue in 2016, while property taxes contributed £85 billion.
France has the highest tax-to-GDP (46.2 per cent), followed by Denmark (46 per cent), and Belgium (44.6 per cent). Mexico reported the lowest ratio (16.2 per cent).
In September, the British Chambers of Commerce downgraded their GDP growth forecast from 1.3 per cent to 1.1 per cent for 2018, and lowered their forecast from 1.4 per cent to 1.3 per cent for 2019.
And in a separate report, published by the City of London Corporation, figures show that the financial services sector, which provides 3.4 per cent of all UK employment, made a record tax contribution of £75 billion in the year to 31 March 2018, an increase of 4 per cent on last year. Corporation tax jumped from £11.6 billion in 2016-17 to £14.1 billion this financial year.
Our tax experts at Beavis Morgan are committed to ensuring that your tax reporting obligations are fully satisfied and that every opportunity to lawfully exploit tax savings is made known to you, restructuring your affairs in a tax effective and efficient way.
To make sure you are not paying more tax than you legally need to, contact your usual Beavis Morgan Partner.