We can reveal that over the reign of the last seven prime ministers, the UK is paying the most tax now under Rishi Sunak at £2.2 billion per day and since 1997, having paid a total of £9.74 trillion in tax under Conservative governments.

Prime Minister Political Party Term of office start Term of office end Est number of days Est TOTAL HMRC cash receipts during term of office £m - inflation adjusted to Apr24 Est DAILY HMRC cash receipts during term of office £m - inflation adjusted to Apr24
Tony Blair Labour 2nd May 1997 27th June 2007 3,708 £5,873,317 £1,584
Gordon Brown Labour 27th June 2007 11th May 2010 1,049 £1,860,351 £1,773
David Cameron Conservative 11th May 2010 13th July 2016 2,255 £3,863,140 £1,713
Theresa May Conservative 13th July 2016 24th July 2019 1,106 £2,196,838 £1,986
Boris Johnson Conservative 24th July 2019 6th September 2022 1,140 £2,329,037 £2,043
Liz Truss Conservative 6th September 2022 25th October 2022 49 £105,247 £2,148
ishi Sunak Conservative 25th October 2022 incumbent 553 so far to latest data £1,247,253 £2,255
             
      Labour total 4,757 £7,733,668 £1,626
      Conservative total 5,103 £9,741,515 £1,909

We've analysed total HMRC cash receipts during the tenure of the last seven prime ministers, from Tony Blair through to Rishi Sunak, adjusting for inflation to reveal the amount of tax paid by the nation, per day, under each PM.

The research shows that in total, the UK has paid out £9.74 trillion under Conservative PMs since David Cameron was elected in May 2010, equating to £1.9 billion per day over the last 14 years.

Under the previous two Labour PMs, Blair and Brown, the UK paid out a total of £7.7 trillion, or £1.6 billion per day between May 1997 and June 2007.

During Gordon Brown’s tenure as prime minister, we paid £1.773 billion per day in tax, more than both his predecessor Tony Blair (£1.584 billion per day) and his successor David Cameron (£1.713 billion per day).

However, since Theresa May took power in July 2016, the daily tax paid by the UK has been climbing steadily, averaging £1.986 billion per day under May, £2 billion a day under Boris Johnson and £2.148 billion a day under Liz Truss. 

But it’s the current PM under which the UK is forking out the most tax, paying out £2.255bn per day under current PM Rishi Sunak. 

Bradley Post, RIFT CEO, commented:

Taxation is always going to be a hot topic as we approach another general election and tax cuts, as well as how they will be funded, will be an area of scrutiny for all parties in the running. 

We’ve seen the daily amount of tax paid by the UK increase under the last four consecutive Conservative prime ministers and so it will be interesting to see if their latest plans intend to reverse this trend. 

While inflation has now been tamed, the cost of living remains substantial for UK households and so voters will no doubt be particularly keen to hear how the next party in power plan to help them when it comes to making ends meet.

Data sources