Britain pays less tax than almost every other country in Europe - but the burden is set to rise, a report said yesterday.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which promotes the interests of the world's richest 30 countries, said the UK paid the equivalent of 35.3pc of its gross domestic product in tax last year. That adds up to roughly £350billion. The sum is lower than the 44.2pc burden on the French taxpayer, and the 36.2pc paid by Germans.
Tax revenues rose in 13 out of the 23 countries surveyed by the OECD and it said this could signal the end of an era of falling taxation.
The amount of tax paid in the UK has been easing since 2000, when it stood at 37.4pc, and is currently exactly the same percentage as the UK raised in 1975.
The OECD said the fall in tax over the past few years had been due to "lower personal income tax rates or increased tax credits". Jeffrey Owens, the OECD's head of tax, said: "There will be a pick-up in returns from corporation tax now that the Government is more aggressive over the abuse of tax shelters."
Nevertheless, British taxpayers will be asked for increasingly more money over the next four years. The Treasury says that it will need to raise an extra £33billion in 2008. That will bring the tax regime in line with the eurozone but will be the highest level of tax raised for 24 years.
