It is, on balance, a good idea. But the way the figures are accounted for isn't entirely transparent. For example, all pension contributions of those the government employs are included in the "welfare" total, when they're not welfare in any sense (not a deliberate attempt to deceive - it's apparently how the civil service has accounted for staff pensions for years, but certainly helpful to Conservative attempts to make people believe benefits are the vast proportion of Iain Duncan Smith's departmental spending). But yes, just as the public tends to over-estimate the proportion of the population that is from a black or minority ethnic community, they also tend to assert that the government spends far more on things they disapprove of, and far less on things they support. As for debt servicing, greater than the amount spent on defence, approaching the amount spent on education - and growing.  It's why those claiming that so-called "austerity" is unnecessary are deeply wrong. Just imagine how much more we could spend on services, on tax cuts and on investment  if we did not have to waste money on debt repayment. The fundamental problem with approximating individuals' tax contributions is that Income Tax and National Insurance are not the only tax streams the government receives: there is no way they can work out how much VAT each of us has paid; or how much Corporation Tax is due to the profits we've helped generate for particular companies; Inheritance Tax etc. So it's a largely notional construct.

Entire Thread

Topic	Date Posted	Posted By
Annual Tax Summary	19/11/14 13:38:00	Bunny Payne
Re:Annual Tax Summary	19/11/14 16:16:00	Simon Knight
Re:Re:Annual Tax Summary	19/11/14 16:38:00	Bunny Payne
Re:Re:Re:Annual Tax Summary	19/11/14 16:49:00	Simon Knight
Re:Annual Tax Summary	19/11/14 17:16:00	Maggie Forbes
Re:Re:Annual Tax Summary	19/11/14 17:34:00	Alan Sherman
Re:Re:Re:Annual Tax Summary	21/05/24 17:24:00	sam
Re:Re:Annual Tax Summary	19/11/14 19:37:00	Bunny Payne
Re:Re:Annual Tax Summary	19/11/14 19:39:00	Adam Gray
Re:Re:Re:Annual Tax Summary	19/11/14 23:24:00	Richard Carter
Re:Re:Re:Re:Annual Tax Summary	20/11/14 04:55:00	Adam Gray
Re:Annual Tax Summary	20/11/14 08:43:00	Maggie Forbes
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Annual Tax Summary	20/11/14 10:28:00	Richard Carter
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Annual Tax Summary	20/11/14 15:17:00	Adam Gray
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Annual Tax Summary	21/11/14 00:28:00	Richard Carter
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Annual Tax Summary	23/11/14 20:10:00	Richard Carter
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Annual Tax Summary	21/05/24 20:48:00	Ed Robinson
Re:Annual Tax Summary	20/11/14 12:35:00	Alison Fraser

Forum Home