“Britain’s tax burden and levels of public spending are surging at an even faster rate than previously feared, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is warning,” according to Allister Heath in The Business, 25 June 2006.

He says that Britain’s public spending hit 45.1% of gross domestic product (GDP) last year and will reach 45.6% this year and 45.9% next year, up from 37.5% in 2000. But how can we sustain this continuing level of public spending without putting tax up again? If tax goes up as a result, the extra tax will reduce the amount available to spend and so acts as a break on the economy, similar to interest rates going up.

In the same article, David Smith of Williams de Broë says: “The evidence that tax revenues hold up when taxes are reduced is overwhelming and by ignoring the real extent of the dynamic effects of tax cuts in their economic modelling the Treasury isn’t getting the full picture. This is producing an institutional bias against lower taxes”.

We agree. So, let us start a new campaign to reduce tax and give us all better value for money.