Taxpayers to foot £5.2 billion tax bill this Christmas, says campaign group

The free market campaign group the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) has today released a report which concludes that taxpayers will foot a more than £5.2 billion bill on their festive spending.

Over the Christmas period, the average household will pay an extra £191.75 in taxes. These taxes, as calculated by the TPA, include the cost of VAT as well as fuel duty, sugar tax, and alcohol taxes.

This year, shoppers will each spend £287 online on average – 67 per cent of their Christmas shopping. TPA analysis shows that the proposed two per cent online sales tax would add an additional £57 million to the Christmas tax bill.

The total estimated Christmas tax bill will be £5.23 billion. This is equivalent to what the government predicts it will cost to return the aid budget to 0.7 per of GNI in 2024-25.

The average household will spend £3,240 in December, 29 per cent more than a typical month. This will be spent mainly on Christmas gifts, clothing, furniture, food, travel and alcohol.

A UK household’s average tax bill on festive spending would increase to £193.81 if a proposed 2 per cent online sales tax levy were applied. This would add £57,142,275 to the Christmas tax bill.

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said:

“Despite families already forking out a fortune this festive season, the taxman has clearly decided ‘tis not the season to be jolly.

“After a cancelled Christmas last year taxpayers deserve a break, but HMRC’s litany of levies leave a big hole in their finances.

“The taxman should stop playing Grinch and leave us a bit more cash in our Christmas stockings.”