Spending on benefits and pensions is often exaggerated by politicians by only referring to the gross cost, before people pay taxes.
Spending on benefits and pensions is often exaggerated by politicians by only referring to the gross cost, before people pay taxes. However about 90% of the money paid out in benefits comes straight back in the form of taxes. The real cost of benefits is the amount paid out after taxes. This is a much smaller figure, £27.8 billion or about 1.4% GDP.
The publisher is the Centre for Welfare Reform.
Graphic on Real Cost of Benefits © Simon Duffy 2017.
All Rights Reserved. No part of this paper may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher except for the quotation of brief passages in reviews.
