Fuel and travel costs are pushing prices up again
Thursday 5 November 2026
Inflation has risen to 3.1%, meaning everyday spending is getting more expensive just as household budgets are already under pressure.
Public sector current receipts in 2024-25, from income tax and VAT to council tax, business rates and public sector interest.
What is in “Other sources”?
Look closer
The same receipts, laid out two ways and grouped two ways. Nothing is added or removed when you switch.
View these figures as a table
What does this tell us?
Income tax isn't the government's only source of revenue
National Insurance, VAT, corporation tax and other taxes all contribute to funding public services.
Looking at them together reveals how the cost of government is shared across different activities.
We pay tax in more ways than we might realise
Some taxes are deducted directly from earnings. Others are included in the prices we pay when shopping, buying fuel or purchasing a home.
Businesses also pay taxes, although some of their economic cost may ultimately fall on workers, customers or shareholders.
Not all taxes affect people equally
Income tax generally takes a larger proportion of earnings from higher earners, while consumption taxes such as VAT can take a larger share of the income of lower-income households.
Understanding these differences matters when considering whether the overall tax system is fair.
Where tax comes from shapes the economy
The balance between taxing earnings, spending, profits and wealth affects incentives and the distribution of the tax burden.
Different choices can raise similar amounts of revenue while affecting households and businesses differently.
Why does it matter?
Decisions about taxation affect much more than government revenue.
They influence how much money households have left to spend, how businesses operate and how the costs of public services are shared.
Understanding where public money comes from helps us judge whether those choices are working for everyone.
About these figures
- Source: ONS, Public sector current receipts: Appendix D, Table sheet, April 2024 to March 2025 column.
- The figures add up to £1,140.6 billion of public sector current receipts in 2024-25.
- The ONS presents these data on an accrued basis. They do not represent actual cash receipts in a given period.
- Some small receipt lines have been grouped so the chart remains readable.
- This chart shows where public money came from. It is not a direct funding map for individual spending lines, because most UK public revenue is pooled rather than assigned to specific services.
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Highlights from about the UK economy, the UK government and the UK public sector.
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