>It's also a progressive system of taxation - in approximate figures - the >first £4000 is tax free, the next £1500 is at 10%, the next £27000 is taxed at >22%, anything in excess of that is at 40%. There are other taxes amounting to >around 10% of the first £25000 earned. So I'm not too sure where 60% came from.

The 60% is based on a contractor working under IR35
Paying NI both as a employer and an employee
Then paying tax as a normal salaried employee as you mention.

The tax breaks available to self employed people in the UK are drastically reduced now (as you probably know).

I'm not exactly sure of the figures - that's my accountants job but I know it's definatley over 50%

When you add to that the VAT you pay for everything and 80% Import duty on Petrol/alcohol etc. it's quite easy to see how much of our money we give to the government every year. :-(

Working in Switzerland - By law all employees must be given Pension and various types of insurance by their employers. In the UK as a contractor I had to pay all that myself.