Metlife: This is how much direct and indirect tax the average Brit pays per hour
Brits could be forking out a lot more in taxes than they realise.
Employees are paying an average £1.25 an hour in direct and indirect tax, according to a new analysis by life insurance firm MetLife.
And the average tax bills adds up to more than £11,000 a year, or 40 per cent of average earnings, with £5,000 a year due to indirect taxes such as VAT on spending, council tax and duty on a range of daily essentials.
The daily tax bill peaks at £35 – nearly £1.50 an hour – for employees aged 40 to 49. Those aged between 18 and 21 pay £6.47 a day or just 27p an hour, while employees aged 60-plus see their tax bill drop to around £23 a day.
"Paying tax is one of the certainties of life and we all benefit from the work that central and local government are able to do as a result," Simon Massey, wealth management director at MetLife UK, said.
Read more: Osborne's tax record: The good, the bad and the ugly
"However, £1.25 an hour adds up to a considerable amount over a lifetime and should help concentrate savers’ minds on how to ensure they are benefiting as much as possible from tax-free savings such as ISAs and tax breaks such as contributing to a pension."