Where does all our tax go exactly?

bootman

Paying for people to sit at home watching telly all day, paying for tax dodging self employed who get paid cash in hand living the life of luxury, whilst claiming they have very little income so get full benefits.

MPH80

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2009/09/16/Public_spending_160909.pdf

More up to date Guardian link for the pictorial version.

Mary_Hartnell

The Guardian "flower arrangement" is very interesting. especially the big new red bloom for bailing out the bankers.
However it tells us where the money went; it does not tell us what they achieved with this huge amount of cash.

My bete noir is the subsidy paid to land owners in the form of the common agricultural policy.

There is a titchy sum shown in the green flower as "rural payment agency" (of less than one billion!!!).
So is this a case of "Not my responsibility guv, I'm nothing to do with Brussels" ?

Or have i missed it hidden somewhere else?

Mary.

PS I see the French have organised a meeting about the future of the current area payment scheme and the UK is not on the guest list!!.

cottager

bootman wrote: »

... paying for tax dodging self employed who get paid cash in hand living the life of luxury, whilst claiming they have very little income so get full benefits.

Very sweeping generalisation, if I may say so.
I wouldn't argue that there are, but count us and probably the majority of sole traders out. You should try keeping a small business standing on its legs at the moment and trying to meet the tax bills. I can assure you it ain't a bundle of laughs, and no benefits in sight from where we're standing.

pendulum

The Government squanders the vast majority of our tax money. It gets completely wasted.

dmg24

pendulum wrote: »

The Government squanders the vast majority of our tax money. It gets completely wasted.

Care to qualify this statement with fact?

(Awaits rant about MP's expenses ... )

poodlehorse

the miltary

Mary_Hartnell

MPH80 wrote: »

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2009/09/16/Public_spending_160909.pdf

I think this does not include council tax; it is only money spent directly by central government?!?
All those self accounting agencies: Local authorities - BBC - Mayor of London (congestion charge) - EU (first 2% of the 15% VAT ?) etc. etc. are not in the flower arrangement unless the government makes a direct grant.

Meanwhile, the rural payments agency, the people who give some of your EU VAT back to the land owning members of our community to subsidise Samantha's pony, are costing us £1,743 in England per claim.
(The flower petals seem to suggest that running HMRC costs £600 per man woman and child - is that a bargain?)