Tax revenue in the UK

Taxes used by governments affect economic performance in several ways. In 2024–5, the UK government is expected to spend over £1 trillion. Although governments borrow money to finance their spending plans, most of this spending will be financed through tax revenue. David Horner explains how this works

David Horner

The estimated tax revenue for 2024–5 is shown in Table 1. Each tax can also be shown in terms of how much it generates as a proportion of total tax revenue. This is shown in Figure 1.

In this article we will look at where UK tax revenue comes from in terms of the main types of tax and some of the common examples of taxes used in the UK to generate revenue.