Tax receipts in the UK 2000-2024

In 2022/23 the value of tax receipts for the United Kingdom amounted to approximately 827.74 billion British pounds. This represented a net increase of over 512.1 billion pounds when compared with 2000/01. Since that year, the total value of tax receipts showed year-on-year increases in most years, except for 2008/09, 2009/10, and 2020/21 when the value declined. Tax receipts form the bulk of UK government income, based on various direct and indirect taxes.

Tax revenue sources

Of the revenue generation by taxation in 2023/24, over 273.27 billion of this came from Income Tax receipts, which was the main source of direct tax income for the government. After income tax, the next most substantial direct tax were contributions from National Insurance, which amounted to just over 177.74 billion pounds of tax revenue in 2023/24. The UK's main goods and services tax; Value-added Tax (VAT) amounted to 169 billion pounds, while Corporation Tax receipts added up to around 88 billion pounds. Although other smaller direct and indirect taxes produce notable income, these four sources were by far the main sources in the 2023/24 financial year. 

UK government finances

While taxes and other sources of income raised more than one trillion pounds in 2023/24, the UK government expenditure was around 1.1 trillion pounds. This gap between revenue and expenditure was financed via government borrowing, which amounted to 107 billion pounds in 2023/24. As the UK government has been spending more than it earns for several years, this has resulted in significant government debt building up, expected to be the equivalent of 103.1 percent of GDP in 2023/24.