Income taxes can't pay for benefits

[IR35 Avoider]

I've been perusing statistics on government web sites. (Well, we all need a hobby.)

One document that caught my eye showed that in 2003 the government was spending £247 billion per year on benefits (including health and pensions) but only gets £286 billion in taxes that can be attributed to households. Of the £286 billion, only £159 billion came from income tax and national insurance.

So the sum total of all income taxes on individuals falls far short of the amount needed to pay benefits to individuals. (The difference is made up by indirect taxes, e.g. VAT)

Makes you think.

[OrangeHopper]

Nope, those numbers are too big for me to cope with.

[expat]

in 2003 the government was spending £247 billion per year on benefits (including health and pensions)

Health and pensions are of course enooooourmously expensive, as you can see if you look at budgeting for them yourself on the basis of no input from the Govt. Just for yourself and your family, I mean, not for the whole country.

[wendigo100]

Perusing HMG and ONS sites is one thing, but when I've searched for something specific, I can never find what I want. Probably because I'm looking for a stat HMG would rather I didn't see.