link to original reddit post by /u/anarchobotto

Today, I spent a long ass time figuring out how much of a worker's income goes towards tax. I'm British so I used UK taxes since I know them best.

For this example, let's imagine a man living with his wife and two children. Some of these taxes will be marked with an * to indicate it can be split between the man and his wife.

The median salary in the UK in 2020 was £31,461.^([1]) Let's round up to make it easier: £31,500. The state doesn't steal any income up to £12,500, then it steals 20% up to £50,000.^([2])

Income Tax: (£31,500 - £12,500) * 0.2 = £3,800

National insurance is 12% from £183 to £962 a week. Our example salary equates to £605.77 a week.^([3])

National Insurance: (£605.77 - £183) * 0.12 * 52 = £2,638

That leaves our take-home pay at £25,062. The average inflation rate over 20 years from 2000-2019 was 2.845%.^([4])

Inflation: £25,062 * (1 - 1 / 0.02845) = £693

The average Band D council tax set by local authorities in England for 2019-20 was £1,750.^([5])

Council Tax: £1,750*

Fuel duty for petrol, diesel, biodiesel and bioethanol costs 57.95 pence per litre.^([6]) The average miles driven per car in the UK in 2019 was 7,400.^([7]) The average MPG for cars in the UK is 38.8 miles per gallon.^([8])

Fuel Duty: 7,400 mi / 38.8 mpg * 4.54609 L/gal * £0.5795/L = £502.44

One in three drivers are fined each year in the UK.^([9]) The first band is now 50% of the offender's weekly income.^([10])

Speeding Tickets: £605.77 / 2 / 3 = £100.96

The median property price in England in 2019 was £240,000.^([11]) Stamp duty is 2% from £125,000 to £250,000.^([12]) The average Brit moves house once every 23 years.^([13])

Stamp Duty: (£240,000 - £125,000) * 0.02 / 23 = £100*

This one's for smokers only. There are 6.9 million adult smokers in the UK.^([14]) The average adult smoker smokes 10 cigarettes a day.^([15]) The government steals £244.78 per 1,000 cigarettes plus 16.5% of the retail price.^([16]) The average price of a pack of 20 king size cigarettes is £11.45.^([17])

Tobacco Duty: (10 * 365 * ((£244.78 / 1,000) + (£11.45 / 20 * 0.165))) = £1,238.23

This one's for drinkers only. Average consumption per adult is about 9.7 litres of pure alcohol per year.^([18]) Duty on wine accounts for 37% of all alcohol duty revenue, followed by beer and cider (32%) and spirits (31%). For ease, let's say it's all beer (spirits and wine duty costs more, cider duty costs less so we'll still underestimate the total cost). The rate on a 5% strength beer is £0.954 per litre.^([19])

Alcohol Duty: 9.7 / 0.05 * £0.954 = £185.07

Car insurance is mandatory and is taxed at 12%.^([20]) The average cost of car insurance is £485 a year.^([21])

Insurance Premium Tax: £485 * 0.12 = £58.20

The average cost of gas and electricity for a 4-bedroom home (affordable within our £235,000 budget) is £1,163 a year.^([22]) 18% of this cost goes to the government.^([23])

Energy Taxes: £1,604 * 0.18 = £288.72*

Other requirements:

Road Tax: £170^([24])

TV License: £159*^([25])

Car MOT: £54.85^([26])

Air Passenger Duty: £130*^([27])

So far, if the taxes were split between the man and his wife where applicable, he'd be left with £20,835.39 that hasn't yet been taxed.

Value-added tax is a flat 20% rate paid on all goods and services in the UK except for gambling, charity, healthcare, education, water, non-luxury food, publications, insurance, children's clothes, and a few other niche things.^([28]) It's also worth noting that excise duties are taxed - tax on tax. Essentially, the state takes 20% of all the money we spend on luxuries.

We can assume someone earning this much money lives roughly paycheck to paycheck since 41% of Brits don’t have enough savings to live for a month without income.^([29])

The average household spends £3,312 on food for the home each year. Luxury foods are taxed, but for simplicity, let's include them and ignore the few non-taxable goods like children's clothes and books, etc. Let's add on the VAT-free £485 for the car insurance. The average mortgage costs £8,055 a year.^([30]) Let's say the man and his wife split both of these bills equally. We've already paid a lower tax rate on energy, so let's add that too.

£20,835.39 - (£3,312 + £485 + £8,055 + £1,604) / 2 = £14,107.39 left to spend on VAT products.

£20,835.39 - (£14,107.39 * 0.2) = £18,013.91

(1 - £18,013.91 / £31,500) * 100 = 42.81% STOLEN BY THE MAFIA

So 42.81% of the average tax-paying Brit's income goes to the legal mafia. Bear in mind, I haven't counted inheritance tax, capital gains tax, corporation tax, or employer's national insurance. Also, we're talking about a median salary here; for higher-earners, 40% of any earnings over £50,000 automatically go to the state.

Who knows how much more money workers could make, or how much lower prices could go, if tax-paying businesses weren't stolen from - they pay 19% on all profits as corporation tax and 13.8% national insurance on employee salaries after an allowance of £169 a week.

Fuck the mafia.