Campaigners criticise politicians for fuelling rising cost of living

The research by the Taxpayers’ Alliance found that a family with average household earnings of £41,027 would pay £826,030 in direct and indirect taxes over the course of a lifetime.

The sum has risen 2.7 per cent since the figure was calculated last year.

The bill includes £287,963 in income tax, £169,371 in VAT, £107,045 in national insurance contributions and £65,068 in council tax.

The lifetime bill is calculated in 2014/15 prices and is based on a working household’s direct and indirect taxes for 44 years and then a retired household’s tax bill for 15 years.

The TPA analysis found that the average family in the poorest fifth of households would pay a lifetime total of £319,732 in tax - an increase of 2.2 per cent - while an average household in the top 20% would pay a lifetime tax bill of £1,686,970, up 4.3 per cent.

The calculations, based on Office for National Statistics data, indicates that the total tax bill for an average household is the equivalent of 20 years of income.

TPA chief executive John O’Connell said: “Politicians are forever lamenting the high cost of living yet all the while adding to the burden through higher taxes.”