William Wallace writes…Taking on the anti-tax movement
If you read any other paper than the Guardian, you will have noted some days ago a generously-covered story about the enormous 'lifetime tax bill' faced by British families. The 'average UK household' in 2014-15 was estimated to pay £826,000 in direct and indirect taxes over their working life, while the top 20% 'will pay £1,686,970' - a curiously exact figure for an estimate, and a claimed rise of 4.3% over the previous year. The story had no reference to any benefits that flowed back to taxpayers in return for this drain on their income: education for children (£180,000 per child or more in the private sector between 3 and 18), health care (say £100,000 per person, incurred most heavily in the last two years of life), and post-retirement benefits (state pensions of £6-9000 a year over 10-20 years, bus passes, etc.), not to mention contributions to all the public goods that make civilised living comfortable: policing, roads and railways, external security, welfare, market support and regulation. The reader i
