Graphs at a glance: How the government goes after benefits fraudsters but lets off tax fraudsters

There are a number of differences between those who indulge in tax fraud and those who indulge in benefits fraud. The most basic is money: to dodge tax you probably have money, to steal benefits you probably don't.  Is it this basic financial distinction that accounts for the differences we describe below? Do well paid legislators and prosecutors feel more empathy with tax dodgers then benefits cheats? The following graphs suggest perhaps so:7.4 times more money is lost through Tax Fraud than through Benefits Fraud:Benefits Fraud: £1.9...

Read More

Graphs at a glance: how local authority spending cuts have hit areas by level of deprivation

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation's report "Coping with the cuts? Local government and poorer communities" shows that spending cuts in more deprived local authority areas are systematically greater than in affluent local authority areas. The difference between most affluent and most deprived being about £100 per head. "Figure 3 illustrates this, but also highlights a key finding relevant to this study: that the scale of the cutback has been greater in more deprived local authorities than in more affluent ones. Figure 3 expresses this in terms of per...

Read More

The Ripped-off Britons TV Sketch Show: Cutting the national debt

[Puppets and voices by Peter Reynolds and Helen Casey.]OUR RELATED STORIES:The right scorns the left for government debt yet hardly a sound (from right or left) about record private debt The Bank of England admitted its £375bn Quantitative Easing gave a £600bn asset boost to the richest 50%, nothing to the restGraphs at a glance: If you include VAT, the poorest fifth of Britons pay more tax per pound of income than the richest fifth says the Office of National StatisticsGlobal corporate and super-rich tax dodging in numbers (and a cool animation)Up...

Read More

The Ripped-off Britons TV Sketch Show: Cutting the national debt

[Puppets and voices by Peter Reynolds and Helen Casey.]OUR RELATED STORIES:The right scorns the left for government debt yet hardly a sound (from right or left) about record private debt The Bank of England admitted its £375bn Quantitative Easing gave a £600bn asset boost to the richest 50%, nothing to the restGraphs at a glance: If you include VAT, the poorest fifth of Britons pay more tax per pound of income than the richest fifth says the Office of National StatisticsGlobal corporate and super-rich tax dodging in numbers (and a cool animation)Up to 50% of your pension savings are lost in bank fees and charges. How about fixing that fir...

Read More

The Ripped-off Britons TV Sketch Show: Tax dodging

[Puppets and voices by Peter Reynolds and Helen Casey.]OUR RELATED STORIES:The Top 1% pay more income tax? ‘cos their income’s doubled since 1995 whilst bottom 90%'s has stagnatedSince 1979, Labour or Tory, the rich always got richer while UK Plc growth remained the sameGraphs at a glance: If you include VAT, the poorest fifth of Britons pay more tax per pound of income than the richest fifth says the Office of National StatisticsGlobal corporate and super-rich tax dodging in numbers (and a cool animation)Britain controls 9 of the world's most...

Read More

The Ripped-off Britons TV Sketch Show: Tax dodging

[Puppets and voices by Peter Reynolds and Helen Casey.]OUR RELATED STORIES:The Top 1% pay more income tax? ‘cos their income’s doubled since 1995 whilst bottom 90%'s has stagnatedSince 1979, Labour or Tory, the rich always got richer while UK Plc growth remained the sameGraphs at a glance: If you include VAT, the poorest fifth of Britons pay more tax per pound of income than the richest fifth says the Office of National StatisticsGlobal corporate and super-rich tax dodging in numbers (and a cool animation)Britain controls 9 of the world's most effective overseas tax havensIt's NOT good capitalism when one company pays its taxes and its rival...

Read More

Graphs at a glance: Impact of occupation, unemployment, and geography on death rates in Britain

Public policy is a classic instance of the tail wagging the dog. For a tail to wag a dog it is not necessary for the dog to be in cahoots with its tail. It is enough that the dog doesn't resist its nether extremity. Most people pay little attention to things that don't affect them directly and immediately. Even when those things inevitably will in the future, or inescapably did in the past, they are likely to swallow any lazy assertion. The unemployed are portrayed as living high on the hog with their overly generous benefits. A lack of interest...

Read More

Graphs at a glance: Bank of England report shows in 2013 our mortgages are bigger than before the mortgage crash of 2008

A graph on page 63 of the Bank of England's end of year report might raise an eyebrow, if not your blood pressure.Loan to Value (LTV) tells what percentage of the value of your home you owe on your mortgage. For instance, if you have a £150,000 mortgage and your home is worth £200,000 your Loan To Value ratio is 75%.LTV in 2013 is actually higher than just before the Credit Crash, blamed by many on people borrowing too much on mortgages. In 2007, just before the crash, around 10% of borrowers owed more than 75% of the value of their homes. In 2013...

Read More

Graphs at a glance: Low pay by age and industry

These graphs are from the Joseph Rowntree Trust: In 2012 5.1 million people were paid less than a living wage, defined nationally at £7.45 per hour. This is about one in five of the UK workforce (made up of approximately 29 million people in 2012 according to the Office of National Statistics). Over 70% of jobs done by the 18-21 year age group were 'low paid'. Most low paid jobs in the Public Sector were held by those over 40 years of age....

Read More

The Ripped-off Britons TV Sketch Show: Indispensable overpaid bosses

[Puppets and voices by Peter Reynolds and Helen Casey.]OUR RELATED STORIES:The Top 1% pay more income tax? ‘cos their income’s doubled since 1995 whilst bottom 90%'s has stagnatedSince 1979, Labour or Tory, the rich always got richer while UK Plc growth remained the sameGraphs at a glance: If you include VAT, the poorest fifth of Britons pay more tax per pound of income than the richest fifth says the Office of National StatisticsGlobal corporate and super-rich tax dodging in numbers (and a cool animati...

Read More

The Ripped-off Britons TV Sketch Show: Indispensable overpaid bosses

[Puppets and voices by Peter Reynolds and Helen Casey.]OUR RELATED STORIES:The Top 1% pay more income tax? ‘cos their income’s doubled since 1995 whilst bottom 90%'s has stagnatedSince 1979, Labour or Tory, the rich always got richer while UK Plc growth remained the sameGraphs at a glance: If you include VAT, the poorest fifth of Britons pay more tax per pound of income than the richest fifth says the Office of National StatisticsGlobal corporate and super-rich tax dodging in numbers (and a cool animati...

Read More

Rip-off News round-up. Our pick of the last week's media (Thu 19th December)

Government lost £13bn to fraud and errorMPs are demanding action after £13.2bn was written off the government balance sheet in 2011-12 due to fraud, financial error and legal claims. The numbers are found in a new annual report called “Whole of Government Accounts”, first published in 2011. But the figures do not include local government or public corporations, and the National Fraud Authority estimates the true cost of fraud to the public sector was £20.6bn. Other omissions include HMRC’s "tax gap" - the difference between what the authorities...

Read More

Graphs at a glance: Number of people who had to resort to foodbanks tripled in one year

Updated on 22/3/2015: We first posted this in December 2013, reporting that between 2011-12 and 2012-13 the number of people resorting to foodbanks close to tripled. Since then the Trussell Trust issued new figures showing this leap happened again between 2012-13 and 2013-14, with yet another close to tripling of users (up 2.6 times). We have updated the graph to show this.According to a report by the Trussell Trust, a charity running foodbanks the number of people resorting to foodbanks nearly tripled in 2012-13:"Trussell Trust foodbanks have...

Read More

Graphs at a glance: Number of people who had to resort to foodbanks tripled in one year

According to a report by the Trussell Trust, a charity running foodbanks the number of people resorting to foodbanks tripled in 2012-13:"Trussell Trust foodbanks have seen the biggest rise in numbers given emergency food since the charity began in 2000. Almost 350,000 people have received at least three days emergency food from Trussell Trust foodbanks during the last 12 months, nearly 100,000 more than anticipated and close to triple the number helped in 2011-12."A report to Parliament stated:"Food bank use has been increasing steadily since 2005....

Read More

The Ripped-off Britons TV Sketch Show: Trickle Down Theory. True or False?!

[Puppets and voices by Peter Reynolds and Helen Casey.]OUR RELATED STORIES:The Top 1% pay more income tax? ‘cos their income’s doubled since 1995 whilst the bottom 90%'s has stagnatedSince 1979, Labour or Tory, the rich always got richer while UK Plc growth remained the sameThe Bank of England admits its £375bn Quantitative Easing gave a £600bn asset boost to the richest, and nothing to the bottom 50%History shows left/right policies grow the economic cake equally. The difference is only in how the cake is divi...

Read More

The Ripped-off Britons TV Sketch Show: Trickle Down Theory. True or False?!

[Puppets and voices by Peter Reynolds and Helen Casey.]OUR RELATED STORIES:The Top 1% pay more income tax? ‘cos their income’s doubled since 1995 whilst the bottom 90%'s has stagnatedSince 1979, Labour or Tory, the rich always got richer while UK Plc growth remained the sameThe Bank of England admits its £375bn Quantitative Easing gave a £600bn asset boost to the richest, and nothing to the bottom 50%History shows left/right policies grow the economic cake equally. The difference is only in how the cake is divi...

Read More

Graphs at a glance - Do we deserve MPs who are paid more?

One almost has sympathy for our MPs. They are being tantalised mercilessly by IPSA waving wads of cash at them. IPSA's proposed pay-hike is as cruel as leaving a diabetic Billy Bunter locked in a dorm with a plate of lemon meringue pies and lashings of ginger beer. Shame on you IPSA! Is this revenge for when all but one of your predecessors were de-facto sacked in January 2013 for refusing to be MPs' doormats? Though we do appreciate the black comedy of MPs protesting through clenched teeth "I couldn't possibly". MPs have convinced themselves they...

Read More

Graphs at a glance: Whether Free Schools are any good or not, they cost half as much to build as traditional schools. Is this the real reason the government is so keen on them?

A National Audit Office (NAO) report published in December 2013 reported that 'free schools' were costing twice as much (on average £6.6 million per school) as expected to build. On the day of publication the media herd wallowed in this cost-doubling story. What was less talked about is the report's observation that even though the schools' costs were double the original estimate, they still cost 45% less than building a traditional school. The NAO report stated:Costs have been lower partly because the Department has taken an innovative approach...

Read More