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United Kingdom Budget Visualization

uk.wikibudgets.org

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Re: United Kingdom Budget Visualization

#51

Post by lucb1e »

the-dude wrote: post #41

Dutch budget viz ( different ) : https://rijksfinancien.nl/visuele-begroting/2018/jv

Some things I found interesting:

- We spend a billion on water management ("deltafonds"). I had no idea it took so much upkeep. I also like subsection "experiments" of 21 million euros.

- 21 million still goes to "healthcare for resistance fighters and victims of world war 2", plus 246 million for pensions of the same group (https://rijksfinancien.nl/visuele-begroting/2018/jv/u/volksg... ). We're still paying for the after-effects of war (though the amount went down by 5% relative to the year before).

- 13 million (almost a euro per person) of the government's yearly budget goes towards equal rights for different genders (including LGBT) https://rijksfinancien.nl/visuele-begroting/2018/jv/u/onderw...

- The climate budget section links to this site: http://klimaatagenda.minienm.nl If you scroll down to "Is warmer eigenlijk erg?" ("Is hotter actually bad?") it breaks it down in a way I haven't seen before. It also drives home just how little we can oversee the consequences, e.g. going from "30% of species might go extinct" at 2°C to "many go extinct" at 5°C (I'd say 30% is quite a disaster already, can't imagine what +5 would bring us). The section below that visualizes the options: what if we prevent the issues, or what if we have to adjust to them?

Re: United Kingdom Budget Visualization

#52

Post by shard972 »

gutnor wrote: post #46
ackshually wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't vote leave because of the money. I voted leave because I was dubious about the control the elected and unelected officials and secretaries in brussels had over British politics, and the rats nest of well paid jobs with crazy benefits waiting for british politicians in brussels when they retire from british politics, so long as they play nice with the EU and go along with the will of the government in Brussel…

That's actually a good point and well said ... 3 years ago. However, today you cannot make that argument with a straight face when Boris is a PM with a very weak democratic mandate, actively undermining the democratically elected Parliament, doubling down on the lies made by the campaigns, pushing for highly damaging (according to the Government own assessment) economic measure. From the Cambridge Analytica scandal w…

Ok but he has called for an election so we can fix that democratic mandate issue but that's bad because Brexit might actually happen and the opposition can't risk that.

Re: United Kingdom Budget Visualization

#53

Post by NeedMoreTea »

ackshually wrote: post #22
frobozz wrote: post #5

There, at the top of "Other Expenditures", Slightly smaller than running the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales. That is what's governing the entire political agenda right now. That's the amount of money stuck on the side of a bus with the suggestion that we could spend it on the NHS instead

I didn't vote leave because of the money. I voted leave because I was dubious about the control the elected and unelected officials and secretaries in brussels had over British politics, and the rats nest of well paid jobs with crazy benefits waiting for british politicians in brussels when they retire from british politics, so long as they play nice with the EU and go along with the will of the government in Brussel…

What of the rats nest of well paid jobs waiting for British politicians, and the revolving door to and from Westminster? Priti Patel, current Home Secretary, twice censured and one resignation in her short career for misusing public office and not revealing financing. Or BoJo and the apparent dodgy funding of Jennifer Acuri. Or Nick Clegg now in charge of Facebook ethics or some such (seems fitting somehow). Or the expenses scandal - now infamously moats and duck houses. There are hundreds of other examples.

How exactly does leaving help?

In the morass of abuse, personal gain and lies that is modern politics it's often the EU and those unelected folks in the Lords who hold British government to account. It's been the EU that has limited the worst excesses of both NewLabour and Tory of governing for the haves, and forgetting the have nots. As I understand it there was a lot of additional regional development funding that could have been claimed for UK regions, but wasn't. Because politics.

Re: United Kingdom Budget Visualization

#54

Post by J-dawg »

pliny wrote: post #35
Reason077 wrote: post #21

It's staggering to me that £46 billion goes to HM Revenue and Customs. So it costs £46 billion to administer £506 billion in tax revenue! That's almost 1/3 the budget of the entire NHS! That doesn't seem like a good ROI at all. A product of an over-complicated tax system?

If you go back a year you can get some detail into what HM Revenue and Customs spends it's money on (90% of it is under the title 'social protection' which is child welfare and tax credits). The collection and enforcement looks like it costs 4 billion at most.

Tax credits deserve some scrutiny. A significant portion of tax revenue is effectively being paid as a subsidy to businesses allowing them to systematically underpay their staff.

Re: United Kingdom Budget Visualization

#55

Post by the-dude »

lucb1e wrote: post #51
the-dude wrote: post #41

Dutch budget viz ( different ) : https://rijksfinancien.nl/visuele-begroting/2018/jv

Some things I found interesting: - We spend a billion on water management ("deltafonds"). I had no idea it took so much upkeep. I also like subsection "experiments" of 21 million euros. - 21 million still goes to "healthcare for resistance fighters and victims of world war 2", plus 246 million for pensions of the same group ( https://rijksfinancien.nl/visuele-begroting/2018/jv/u/volksg... ). We're still paying for th…

Aren't we spending ~300 billion ( in Dutch, 'miljard' ) in total?

Re: United Kingdom Budget Visualization

#56

Post by nmeofthestate »

simias wrote: post #45
ackshually wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't vote leave because of the money. I voted leave because I was dubious about the control the elected and unelected officials and secretaries in brussels had over British politics, and the rats nest of well paid jobs with crazy benefits waiting for british politicians in brussels when they retire from british politics, so long as they play nice with the EU and go along with the will of the government in Brussel…

>I voted leave because I was dubious about the control the elected and unelected officials and secretaries in brussels had over British politics, and the rats nest of well paid jobs with crazy benefits waiting for british politicians in brussels when they retire from british politics, so long as they play nice with the EU and go along with the will of the government in Brussels. What do you base this on? It's clear t…

I wish people wouldn't characterise the UK leaving the EU as "gaining independence". The UK is was and will be an independent state with UN membership and sovereignty, including the right to leave international organisations.

Re: United Kingdom Budget Visualization

#58

Post by monadgonad »

ben_w wrote: post #40
ackshually wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't vote leave because of the money. I voted leave because I was dubious about the control the elected and unelected officials and secretaries in brussels had over British politics, and the rats nest of well paid jobs with crazy benefits waiting for british politicians in brussels when they retire from british politics, so long as they play nice with the EU and go along with the will of the government in Brussel…

Good for you. Unfortunately, I have encountered quite a lot of people who do care about the money. Today, just half an hour ago, I saw someone tweeting that the EU was “bleeding the UK dry” by “taking” “£1 billion per month” [1] so I’m fairly sure that quite a lot of people did actually vote on the basis of the money. [1] 1e9, or roughly 0.01% of the EU-(annual)-GDP per month

Comparing £1b to the EU GDP per month and not the UK one is a bit disingenuous.

Re: United Kingdom Budget Visualization

#59

Post by monadgonad »

hardlianotion wrote: post #9

That is a great idea. Understanding government expenditure on some level should be a fundamental part of a citizen's participation. I don't yet fully understand how to read it. It's not really clear to me what the difference in income and expenditure is - the impression the diagram gives me is other that income is balanced by expenditure, or that there is a budget surplus maybe. I think I recall that there is a budge…

> Understanding government expenditure on some level should be a fundamental part of a citizen's participation.

HMRC sends people this information annually - a breakdown of what their amount of tax paid was spent on.

Re: United Kingdom Budget Visualization

#60

Post by ChrisRR »

ackshually wrote: post #22
frobozz wrote: post #5

There, at the top of "Other Expenditures", Slightly smaller than running the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales. That is what's governing the entire political agenda right now. That's the amount of money stuck on the side of a bus with the suggestion that we could spend it on the NHS instead

I didn't vote leave because of the money. I voted leave because I was dubious about the control the elected and unelected officials and secretaries in brussels had over British politics, and the rats nest of well paid jobs with crazy benefits waiting for british politicians in brussels when they retire from british politics, so long as they play nice with the EU and go along with the will of the government in Brussel…

Where do you stop with this train of thought though? Why do the MPs from the north have any say about what governs me in Berkshire?

It's the same argument just at a larger scale.

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