Tax Freedom Day is calculated each year by the Adam Smith Institute and indicates how much of the year the average tax payer works for the taxman rather than themselves.

If you are an average taxpayer, and you began work on January 1 this year you would be working solely to pay off your taxes until Tuesday, May 31. Only then could you finally say that you had paid off all Gordon Brown’s demands and were at last starting to earn for yourself.

This year, 2005, Gordon is making us work three days longer for the tax collectors than he did last year.

The tax burden is on an upward trend. This year, it is an extra three days. The year before, it was an extra two.

As for next year, we don't know, but experts agree there will be a massive tax rise sometime after the General Election.

Published: Monday, March 21, 2005