The British public is being taxed to the hilt on everything

Did you know with a Digital subscription to Yorkshire Post, you can get access to all of our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. I continue to be baffled at how elected representatives at local and national government level can shamelessly continue to extract money from the populace by taxation, without contrition, and spend it willy-nilly on wasteful projects from speed humps and 'traffic calming' measures through AFV's which make squaddies ill, to illegal immigrant freebies and HS2 and 'smart' motorways. UK taxation is at a record high. Take VAT for example. A manufacturer works tirelessly to produce a quality item at a price with a modest profit margin then wham. The government smacks 20 per cent on top and the consumer has no choice but to go without or pay up. The motorist is an easy target for these modern day highwaymen. Without tax petrol would cost around 75p a litre. Buy a petrol or diesel car above £40,000 and you will be slapped by a 'luxury car tax' for five years even though the value of the vehicle will drop considerably year on year so a three year old car depreciating to a modest £20,000 will still attract a £640 a year road fund licence. From 2028 EV's will be slapped with an additional mileage charge of 3p a mile and plug-in hybrids half that per mile even though PHEV owners pay tax on petrol. Smoke or drink and you will be punished. On a £15 bottle of whisky the government takes £11. Perhaps these are the only taxes which can be justified, on health grounds. But food is taxed. Surely not? Take a look at HMRC Vat Notice 701/14 to see which foods are deemed taxable and which are not. Tolley's Tax Guide is the go-to reference for tax professionals trying to navigate the UK's gargantuan taxation legislation which is said to be as lengthy as several copies of the Bible end to end. At every budget a new tax is added, yet none are taken away. And yet despite all these taxes Britain is still up to its oxters in debt - three trillion pounds equivalent to £102,000 per household. That is unsustainable and savage spending cuts and more austerity must be in the pipeline, not to balance the books, but to prevent the national debt rising further and calm the bond markets on which Britain depends. I fear the coming autumn budget will not be a happy one.