News & Important Dates
Government spending
Is there a more exciting twitter account than that of HM Revenue & Customs? @HMRCgovuk. Their followers are no doubt accountants, 372,000 of us to be precise. The latest tweet thanked everyone that did their self assessment return by the deadline and gave a link to an interesting calculator to explain how their taxes were spent. This is the breakdown for someone that has paid £8,000 income tax and £2,000 national insurance:
Welfare (23.5%) £2,350
Health (20.2%) £2,020
State Pension (12.8%) £1,280
Education (11.8%) £1,180
Defence (5.3%) £530
National debt interest (5.1%) £510
Transport (4.3%) £430
Public order & safety (4.3%) £430
Business and industry (3.6%) £360
Government administration (2.1%) £210
Housing and utilities (1.6%) £160
Environment (1.5%) £150
Culture (1.5%) £150
Overseas aid (1.2%) £120
UK contributions to EU budget (1%) £100
Rounding! (0.2%) £20
You can have a look at how the tax you have paid is broken down at: https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/tax-summary.
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