UK tax statements show the reality of aid spending
In tomorrow’s budget Chancellor George Osborne is expected to announce that every UK taxpayer will receive an annual statement of what their taxes are spent on. For those of us working on the UK aid budget this is welcome news – when asked people tend to vastly overestimate what the UK spends on overseas aid. However, model tax statements published by The Sun and Daily Mail make clear that for people of all income levels less than 1% of their taxes are spent on aid.
The impact this 1% contribution makes is explained in our report ‘Small Change: Big Difference’ published yesterday. It includes the remarkable fact that UK aid spending will put 15.9 million children in school over the next four years, and ensure 5.8 million mothers can give birth in a safe environment.
The misconceptions about how much the UK invests in overseas aid were highlighted in a short video we made last year:
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