Varies per area , but around Newcastle they are much much higher.  
I have checked a few other city's and same thing (London etc are not the same).  
  
You can always get around paying that much tax by opening a ltd company  
put all the profits into the business then pay yourself a 15-25k per year wage 
the remaining is the business profits  
you pay a low tax amount on your wage 
the business pays a low tax rate on the remaining profits  
  
lowering your tax from 40% to 20% 
you can then buy anything business related you like on the business account and use it as tax write offs  
cars, premises, travel, hotels etc... 
  
feel free to google this as there is a lot of info on it. 
  
I know a few people doing the same as bob so your argument that its not possible is a bit flawed