Money, Money, Money

Visited my tax page on gov.uk today and saw how my taxes are being spent. I have to say that looking at it as objectively as possible, that’s not a terrible way to spend the money … This was for the year 2023-2024, so the last dying embers of the conservatives (I doubt it has really changed under Labour), but those keyboard warriors and self-certified experts on everything that the internet has spawned are always saying we should look after the poor, the sick and the aged … well, first three items cover those and that’s 50% of the tax money gone! Then there is that national debt line (that’s a bit high), but that was the price of bailing the economy in the naughties and COVID and the Ukraine war ten years later … then it’s Education, Defence and Public Order, all sensible, then all other stuff under that.

I could be picky about the outstanding payments to the EU, but that is a treaty obligation, I might not agree with it, but we should keep to treaty obligations, even if others don’t! So interesting and overall I would argue sensible and hard to find a lot wrong with. Now like me, I’m sure you could argue about the money not being spent with any great efficiency, and I would find it hard to disagree from my personal experience of working in the MOD, but… to say that government doesn’t care and is not looking after its people and that the “system” is broken I would say from this picture is a long way from the truth.

There are big tensions in the world today, but that has always been the case, and despite the media and social media pearl-clutching and hysteria about the current US government situation, which I do have concerns about, the world has never been a better place to live in , and the UK likewise has never been a better place to be in.

You doubt my words? Think about going back even 20 years and then think about falling ill with cancer. You rate your chances of survival then against now. Twenty years ago it was 60/40 you survived, now it’s 70/30 …

So, I’m pretty happy with how my tax pounds are being spent, though I do like to think my money could go a bit further than it currently does …

Cheers