UK tax grab now even larger than Germany (Labour socialists worse than Germany's)

The Business Online ^ | Jan. 15, 2006 | Allister Heath

[Palpatine]

BRITAIN’S tax burden will surge ahead of Germany’s for the first time in a generation this year. It signals the end of an era for the UK as it decisively turns its back on economic liberalism, a report reveals this weekend.

The news, which confirms that Chancellor Gordon Brown has Europeanised the British economy by stealth through a massive programme of extra public spending and higher taxes, was condemned by top City of London economists this weekend. They said higher taxes will lead to an inevitable collapse in Britain’s economic performance, a rise in unemployment and a decline in foreign direct investment.

[Palpatine]

Apart from his support of the war on terror, Tony Blair's socialist government, particularly through chancellor of the exchequer Gordon Brown has utterly destroyed the sound foundation of the UK economy. Thatcher's legacy therefore is all but destroyed by the tax and spend socialists. What is most appalling about this is that much of the spending has been done to get into line with the European mainland!

[KarlInOhio]

I have a question for the Brits and Germans on this. Is this statistic being skewed by the medical system in each country? Specifically, is the payment for the British national health system considered a tax while the German system is "insurance" and thus not counted under the tax column?

[agere_contra]

The Labour government has introduced many, many stealth taxes, or has increased existing taxes by stealth.

We in the UK pay "National Insurance" - don't know what it was originally for but it all goes in the same pot. I don't know if this tax-but-not-called-a-tax was included in the 42% figure but I imagine it is, for both countries.

[globalheater]

It sure looks like in this statistics the german health system doesn't account to the facts and figures - but only the makers of that story will know.

You know what it is like with statistics.

The authors are strange anyhow - they talk about the UK to get more and more european. Well they sure are european a 100% since they are members of the EU and cannot get any more european then they already are. It doesn't help one bit that there are brits complaining about the EU.

Europe could get a bit more states driven - a shame but not exactly news.

[conservative physics]

*puts on tin foil hat*

Sometimes I wonder if the west really won the cold war... or if maybe the communists won and decided the only way to make the US population accept socialism was to make it look like we'd won and that we voluntarily choose each election to give them billions in the form of foreign aid.

[wolf78]

"Sometimes I wonder if the west really won the cold war..."

That's what we ask ourselves all the time in Germany: Schröder wouldn't have been elected in Western Germany alone. Reunification effectively meant a dramatic shift to the left, as it guaranteed the "left camp" (SPD, Greens, PDS) a structural mayority. Which by the way is still the case: There's a left mayority in the Bundestag, the only reason why there is no left-wing coalition is because the leaders of the SPD and the PDS (or "Left party") hate each other's guts.

There's a saying in Western Germany: "Reunification was basically a good idea - but why with the former GDR? Switzerland would have been so much nicer!"

[Atlantic Bridge]

There's a saying in Western Germany: "Reunification was basically a good idea - but why with the former GDR? Switzerland would have been so much nicer!"

BuHuHaHa! This is the "Knackpunkt".

:-)

[Atlantic Bridge]

The authors are strange anyhow - they talk about the UK to get more and more european. Well they sure are european a 100% since they are members of the EU and cannot get any more european then they already are. It doesn't help one bit that there are brits complaining about the EU.

You are right, but the Brits always managed to keep all doors open without paying too much. They had their "Brit-rebate", they do not join the Eurozone and they kept their foreign policy British.

This is quite different to the German or French involvement which is aimed into more federal structures under the abandonment of national rights.