Where My Taxes Go

CalculatorUnited KingdomTax year 2026-27

Where do my taxes go? United Kingdom

Enter your income (or the tax you paid) to see how it is shared across United Kingdom government spending, based on official 2025-26 figures.

Tax rules: 2026-27. Spending: 2025-26 financial year (April to March, outturn). Nothing you type leaves your browser.

Your estimated tax

£7,680

Income tax £5,486 + National Insurance £2,194 · 19.2% of income

Per month £640Per day £21.04

Where it goes

Block size is each function's share of United Kingdom government spending, 2025-26. Hover or tap a block; the full list is below.

Your tax, function by function

Spending functionShareYour taxGovernment total
Social protection (pensions, benefits, social care)
Breakdown
  • Old age: £1,077 (14.02%)
  • Social exclusion n.e.c.: £543 (7.07%)
  • Sickness and disability: £528 (6.87%)
  • Family and children: £222 (2.89%)
  • Housing: £90 (1.18%)
  • Social protection n.e.c.: £70 (0.91%)
  • Unemployment: £9 (0.11%)
  • Survivors: £9 (0.11%)
33.2%£2,548£407.3 billion
Health
Breakdown
  • Medical services: £1,547 (20.15%)
  • Central and other health services: £46 (0.60%)
  • Medical research: £18 (0.23%)
21.0%£1,611£257.5 billion
General public services (incl. debt interest)
Breakdown
  • Public debt transactions: £815 (10.61%)
  • Executive and legislative organs, financial and fiscal affairs, external affairs: £124 (1.62%)
  • Foreign economic aid: £45 (0.59%)
  • General public services n.e.c.: £33 (0.43%)
  • General services: £15 (0.19%)
  • R&D general public services: £3 (0.04%)
13.5%£1,035£165.5 billion
Education
Breakdown
  • Secondary education: £381 (4.96%)
  • Pre-primary and primary education: £272 (3.54%)
  • Subsidiary services to education: £44 (0.57%)
  • Education n.e.c.: £30 (0.40%)
  • Tertiary education: £29 (0.38%)
  • R&D education: £16 (0.21%)
  • Education not definable by level: £8 (0.10%)
  • Post-secondary non-tertiary education: £7 (0.09%)
10.2%£786£125.7 billion
Economic affairs
Breakdown
  • Transport: £306 (3.98%)
  • General economic, commercial and labour affairs: £112 (1.46%)
  • R&D economic affairs: £70 (0.92%)
  • Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting: £41 (0.54%)
  • Fuel and energy: £41 (0.53%)
  • Communication: £7 (0.10%)
  • Economic affairs n.e.c.: £6 (0.07%)
  • Mining, manufacturing and construction: £2 (0.03%)
  • Other industries: £2 (0.02%)
7.7%£588£94.0 billion
Defence
Breakdown
  • Military defence: £364 (4.74%)
  • Foreign military aid: £25 (0.33%)
  • R&D defence: £18 (0.24%)
  • Defence n.e.c.: £2 (0.02%)
  • Civil defence: £0 (0.01%)
5.3%£409£65.4 billion
Public order and safety
Breakdown
  • Police services: £197 (2.57%)
  • Law courts: £63 (0.82%)
  • Prisons: £53 (0.69%)
  • Fire-protection services: £26 (0.34%)
  • Public order and safety n.e.c.: £10 (0.13%)
  • R&D public order and safety: £0 (0.00%)
4.5%£349£55.7 billion
Housing and community amenities
Breakdown
  • Housing development: £93 (1.21%)
  • Community development: £29 (0.38%)
  • Housing and community amenities n.e.c.: £8 (0.11%)
  • Street lighting: £7 (0.09%)
  • Water supply: £3 (0.04%)
  • R&D housing and community amenities: £0 (0.00%)
1.8%£141£22.5 billion
Environment protection
Breakdown
  • Waste management: £74 (0.97%)
  • Environment protection n.e.c.: £25 (0.33%)
  • Pollution abatement: £14 (0.18%)
  • Protection of biodiversity and landscape: £4 (0.05%)
  • R&D environment protection: £3 (0.04%)
1.6%£120£19.2 billion
Recreation, culture and religion
Breakdown
  • Cultural services: £34 (0.44%)
  • Broadcasting and publishing services: £33 (0.43%)
  • Recreational and sporting services: £24 (0.32%)
  • Recreation, culture and religion n.e.c.: £2 (0.02%)
  • Religious and other community services: £1 (0.01%)
  • R&D recreation, culture and religion: £1 (0.01%)
1.2%£94£15.1 billion

Not in the split: EU transactions (net) (-£166.0 million). These are negative lines (receipts netted against spending), so they cannot be a share of your tax.

How this calculator works

Enter your income to estimate your 2026-27 Income Tax and National Insurance. The tool then divides the total across what the UK public sector spent in 2025-26, the latest outturn in HM Treasury's Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses (PESA 2026). Functions follow the UN COFOG classification that HMRC's Annual Tax Summary also uses: social protection (including the State Pension), health, education, debt interest, defence and others.

How the tax is estimated: rates for England, Wales and Northern Ireland: Personal Allowance £12,570 (reduced by £1 for every £2 over £100,000), 20% up to £50,270, 40% up to £125,140, 45% above. Scottish income tax bands differ and are not modelled. Employee National Insurance is 8% between £12,570 and £50,270 and 2% above, and you can leave it out. VAT, Council Tax and other taxes are not included.

Worked example: on £40,000 you would pay about £7,680 in Income Tax and National Insurance. 33.2% of public spending went on social protection, which is £2,548 of that.

The spending figures: public sector expenditure on services by function (COFOG), outturn came to £1.23 trillion in 2025-26 financial year (April to March, outturn), in 10 functions. The five largest took 85.5% of the total, and the smallest, recreation, culture and religion, took 1.23%. Every share in the table is that function's amount divided by the total, and the amounts are GBP as published in the source below.

Questions and answers

What does most UK tax pay for?
In 2025-26 the largest functions were social protection (33.2%), health (21.0%), general public services (13.5%), education (10.2%).
How much of my tax goes to the NHS?
Health was 21.0% of public sector spending on services in 2025-26.
How much goes on debt interest?
Public debt transactions (mostly debt interest) were 10.6% of spending.
Does this work for Scotland?
Spending shares are UK-wide, but the tax estimate uses rest-of-UK income tax bands. Scottish taxpayers can enter the tax they paid instead.

Related

Sources and notes

  1. Spending data: HM Treasury, Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses (PESA) 2026, Table 5.2. Public sector expenditure on services by function (COFOG), outturn, 2025-26 financial year (April to March, outturn). Licence: Open Government Licence v3.0. Published 2026-07.
  2. Tax rules: GOV.UK, Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances, and National Insurance rates, 2026 to 2027.
  3. Shares are each function's part of the positive spending lines (total £1.23 trillion). Your tax is spread in proportion. Method. Page built 2026-10-07.