We can today reveal that the Coalition Government has raised taxes more than twice as often as it has cut them. In the first analysis of its kind, this Government is shown to have implemented or planned 299 separate tax rises but only 119 separate tax cuts. This means that the Coalition has been responsible for 180 more tax rises than tax cuts since it came to power.
Click here for the full report including a complete list of all the tax cuts and rises
This forensic study of Treasury and HMRC documents looks at how many different tax reliefs, allowances and rates the Government has changed, along with the number of new taxes that have been levied or abolished during its time in office. In 2009-10, the last year of the previous government, £513 billion was paid in taxes (or £549 billion at 2012-13 prices). By 2015-16, the Government plans to increase that amount to £671 billion (£633 billion at 2012-13 prices), a real terms rise of 15 per cent.
The key findings of this research are:
A total of 299 separate tax rises have either already been implemented or are planned before May 2015.
A total of 119 separate tax cuts have either already been implemented or are planned before May 2015.
A full methodology is included in the report.
This summary table lists the number of tax-raising and tax-cutting measures implemented since May 2010 or planned for implementation, by tax type. Click the image to embiggen: