Any number that's bigger than 0 and the answer is a resounding yes (or "too much") to that question.

"It is one thing to volunteer for a spanking. It is another to volunteer your peers as well."

That's one hell of a way to open an MSM article.

That has been the gambit of the Patriotic Millionaires, featuring football pundit Gary Lineker and Gary Stevenson, a former City trader. The group is calling for higher taxes on the better off at a time when incoming premier Andy Burnham is considering imposing them.

Ah yes, that is the Gary (#1521916); we know him as the mentally deranged and cognitively troubled guy from YouTube.

I don't quite get the following analogy, but whatever:

Talk about turkeys pinging the farmer a diary reminder for a trip to the abattoir just before Christmas. Many Britons believe they are already heavily taxed, regardless of whether their net worth extends into seven figures or not.

Touché:

Individuals are acutely conscious of income tax because it is imposed directly on them. But individuals ultimately pay all the other state levies: corporation tax, business rates, whatever. Such taxes may primarily fall on specific groups, such as investors and employees. But they also reach consumers via the cost of goods and services.

That stupid cut-off graph label is supposed to say "Other G7 Average"

...also, now do the Scandis... #1530957, #1533994 #1495232
(NOPE, author won't: "The real problem is deciding who to leave out of the analysis. Personally, I ignore small European countries with all-encompassing welfare systems, fond though some pundits are of citing them.")

“We are close to and will soon surpass the maximum historic amount of tax as a percentage of GDP,” says Isaac Delestre, a senior research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

To be fair, Mr Gary and his ilk say that the millionaires and billionaires aren't paying very much, thus explaining the heavy burden on the rest of us. (No bother talking about the troubling side -- expenditures -- since of course that's just a natural good and a necessity?)

Of course, not even that is true (shocking...)

there are several answers to the question: “Are Britons heavily taxed?” The reply is yes if historical precedent is the benchmark. It is also yes if you are rich. The response is no when comparing the UK with foreign peers, particularly continental ones.

Yeah, boring. what else is new?

TL;DR on this as all freakin' tax conversations ever... democracy truly is the delusion/mental disorder in which everyone can live at the expense of everyone else.

"Most people think they should pay only modest direct taxes and someone else should pay at steeper levels."

...even, it turns out, the schmucks calling for higher taxes on the rich:

The Patriotic Millionaires could increase their own contributions by uncomplainingly paying whatever is asked of them. In contrast to that approach, Lineker himself appealed against a £4.9mn tax demand in 2023. He won.

My god. Pathetic.

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