MSE News: Government to reveal how taxpayers' bills are spent

Paul_Herring

Ok - arguments about whether it's direct or not, this bit of paper is misleading in the extreme.

Total tax take for the government 2010/11 is £420bn[1]
Total tax take for employees' Income Tax and NI in the same period is on the order£180bn-odd.

There is a major discrepancy between what
1) the government is purporting to tell us with this 'initiative' (here's where 'all your tax' goes) and
2) they're actually telling us (here's where less than half of your tax goes, but we'll pretend it all comes from those numbers on your payslip.)

Not worth the paper it's printed on.


[1] http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/tax_receipts/tax-receipts-and-taxpayers.pdf

harz99

pawlala wrote: »

How much is all this costing? Is it even necessary?

Simple answers; a lot and no!

sorcerer

Are they going to include tax on savings since this is a direct tax also.

sorcerer

It will probably back fire on them, because people will be annoyed on how much tax they acually pay. I know I do every time I see my payslip. The I have wages which I save which are then taxed also!

DreamerV

I'd be interested to know the information, but would be happier if I wanted the info, to just be able to phone the tax office and request a calculation notice to be sent out, rather than one going to everyone (which presumably costs a lot more).

corbyboy

sorcerer wrote: »

It will probably back fire on them, because people will be annoyed on how much tax they acually pay. I know I do every time I see my payslip. The I have wages which I save which are then taxed also!

It won't backfire because this is exactly what the government wants. They want people to be outraged about how much tax they pay so they can say "well look at how much you pay in welfare. It's all their fault."

dougz_2

So will this give us the whole story of our tax budget?

Will it include how much each tax loophole, exploitable by the wealthy few, is costing the common taxpayer?

No, I thought not. It just concentrates on the things 'they' want to cut for everyone else.

thelawnet

Paul_Herring wrote: »

No - they are direct taxes since you pay them directly. Just because someone in the government said they're not doesn't actually make them not.

Indirect taxes are those that the businesses, that collect them on behalf of the government, pay (business taxes, taxes on profit etc.) which result in the increased net cost of the product.

In the 'Paul Herring dictionary' maybe.

In the real world, no.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/584578/taxation

It's a waste of money anyway. The state is so large and complex that you can't really say where 'your' money has gone.

thelawnet

dougz wrote: »

So will this give us the whole story of our tax budget?

Will it include how much each tax loophole, exploitable by the wealthy few, is costing the common taxpayer?

Tax loopholes are not a cost.

You can say

'Mick Jagger dodged stamp duty on his mansion, totalling £50k', but Mick Jagger still pays far more tax than you do.

Increasing income (tax take) and decreasing costs (spending) are two separate goals. For instance, the 50% tax rate reduces the overall tax take, because people choose to reduce their income, e.g., by working less.

tillycat123

What a TOTAL waste of money.

I like to see a breakdown of my shopping bill, phone bill credit card bill, because I have control over these and watch my spending.

To see a breakdown of what I have absolutely no control over will just incense me even more, I would rather not see how much of my very hard earned cash is going to scroungers.