ABSTRACT
Total government expenditure in 2017-18 was expected to be £802 billion, or about £12,225 for every man, woman and child in the United Kingdom. Taxation and public spending touch everyone’s daily lives, from the amount of income tax we pay to the levels of state pensions and benefi ts we receive, and from standards in our local hospitals and schools to the quality of the environment and the number of police on the beat. It is not surprising, then, that management of the economy and of the nation’s fi nances are always at the heart of political controversy. Are levels of public spending helping or hindering economic growth? What services should be protected from the full effects of reductions in public spending? Is the taxpayer getting good value for money? How will decisions on spending affect levels of taxation and public borrowing?
