Stagnation Tax Calculator
Calculate how much Britain's economic stagnation costs you personally each year. This isn't a tax you pay to the government - it's the hidden cost of decades of policy failure.
Your Personal Stagnation Tax
Calculate how much the UK's economic stagnation costs you personally each year.
Lost Wages: UK productivity is 20% below the US, France, and Germany. If UK workers were as productive, you would earn £7,000 more per year.
Housing Premium: UK households pay 35-57% more than Austria and Canada for comparable quality housing due to chronic undersupply.
Energy Premium: UK energy bills are 45% higher than 2021 levels due to grid infrastructure failures and market design flaws.
Fiscal Drag: Each taxpayer bears approximately £2,400 annually: £1,800 from debt interest payments on £2.9tn national debt, plus £600 from frozen tax thresholds dragging millions into higher brackets (OBR estimates 4 million extra higher-rate taxpayers by 2028).
Methodology
Lost Wages (20% of salary)
UK productivity has flatlined since 2008 while the US, Germany, and France pulled ahead. If UK workers were as productive as their American counterparts, average wages would be approximately 20% higher. This is based on OECD productivity data comparing output per hour worked across developed economies.
Read more about the productivity crisis →Housing Premium (35% of housing costs)
UK housing costs are 35-57% higher than comparable quality housing in Austria, Canada, and other developed nations. This premium is driven by chronic undersupply - we've been building 100,000+ homes fewer than needed annually for decades. The planning system is the binding constraint.
Read more about the housing crisis →Energy Premium (45% of energy bills)
UK household energy bills are 45% higher than 2021 levels despite wholesale prices falling. Industrial electricity is 89% above the EU median. Grid infrastructure failures and market design flaws mean we pay premium prices while 739GW of renewable projects wait in connection queues.
Read more about the energy crisis →Fiscal Drag (£2,400 per taxpayer)
This combines two fiscal failures: £1,800 from debt interest payments on £2.9tn national debt (consuming £111bn annually), plus £600 from frozen income tax thresholds since 2021. The threshold freeze has dragged 4 million extra people into higher tax brackets - the OBR estimates it will raise £38bn/year by 2029-30. The personal allowance at £12,570 would be £17,470 if indexed to inflation.
Read more about the fiscal situation →Want to understand why this is happening?
Explore the interconnected policy failures that created this stagnation tax.