The poorest households in Britain are now paying a higher share of tax and getting a lower share of benefits than before Labour came to power, according to new research, writes Vanessa Houlder. A paper by the Centre for Policy Studies, the right-

leaning think-tank, concluded the percentage of the total tax take paid by the poorest fifth of households rose marginally from 6.8 per cent in 1996-97 to 6.9 per cent in 2004-05.