A pledge to award the NHS an additional £20 billion a year by 2023 is expected to be funded in part by tax

The tax burden in the UK has reached its highest level in almost 50 years, according to a new study.

The amount of tax paid to the Treasury as a proportion of total annual income is now 34 per cent, marking a 49-year peak, the TaxPayers’ Alliance has found.

Government revenues are at a 32-year high, reaching 37 per cent of gross domestic product, while government spending is approximately £30,000 per household, the alliance said. Analysis by the pressure group, which champions lower tax and reductions in red tape, previously found that the bottom 10 per cent of earners in Britain paid 49.5 per cent of their income in tax.

Yesterday it issued a warning to the government to avoid increasing the tax burden further,