bobdent - any you forgot that you are taxed when you earn it as well....
But the standing government need all that tax, and more, to pay for the cash wasted into the ineffective, inefficent large departments such as NHS and Schools over the past 13yrs.
Also remember, the Tory/LD plans do not go far enough - the actual deficit (not amount we owe, but amount we annually overspend by) will be 'only' £135bn a year in 5yrs. To balance that in five years would still need an extra £2,250 for every man, woman and child, working or not, a year extra tax.
We are paying approx £25m an hour in interest payments on our debt. £600m a day. £219bn a year. Thats 'wasted' tax that the last 12yrs of mismanagement have caused. Thats about £3,500 from every man, woman and child per year.
To pay off our debt tomorrow, even man, woman and child, whether working, retired, at school, lazy blood sucking breakwit, or in a cot, would need to pay £23,000
It seems that the current governement cannot get the scale of this problem over to the masses, as it would appear than most of the population cannot see a problem

Maybe something dramatic, such as closing the NHS entirely which no decrease in NI payments, is needed to show people the scale of the issue. Even closing that down, and ignoring the burden that would generate on the welfare system, would only half our annual deficit (NHS is £90bn-£110bn - the department is so inffective, it doesn't know!!).
Unfortunately, its also not a simple case of taxing the rich... ...there aren't enough of them. EVERYBODY is going to have to take a significant hit on this one, to pay for the gross incompitence of the previous 12yrs of government. I know I'm just the stupid kid from the local comprehensive, but even I know to save money during the boom years, and borrow during the bust years..... .....maybe Mr Brown and Mr Blair believed their own BS about 'the end of boom and bust economy'. Retards.
The only solution is higher tax in parallel with massively reduced spending. I just hope the governement have the balls to do it, else we are only heading towards bankrupcy.