If you were the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what would you do instead? Move the sliders to shift the balance of income and expenditure, and decide by how much you would cut or increase the deficit. The Budget 2025 forecast for 2026 to 2027 is income of £1,304 billion against expenditure of £1,416 billion, a deficit of £112 billion.
To make fine-tuned adjustments, select a slider and use the arrow keys on your keyboard.
Whilst this will function on a small screen, by nature it is a large and complex tool, and is best viewed on a larger screen.
Total income
Total expenditure
Budget deficit
Your Income Tax and NITake-home , from now
The VAT, National Insurance and Income Tax sliders set rates and thresholds and work out the income they would raise, assuming the amount of spending and earnings that are taxed stays the same. National Insurance and Income Tax are worked out for the average earner in each tax band.
Employees pay the main rate on earnings between £ and £, and the upper rate above that. These two thresholds follow the Income Tax personal allowance and higher rate threshold.
Each rate applies to the earnings between its threshold and the next one.
Set your own salary to see what your suggested tax rates and thresholds would mean for your take-home pay. This does not change the budget totals.
| Measure | Basic rate | Higher rate | Additional rate | You |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual salary | ||||
| Income Tax paid | ||||
| Employee National Insurance paid | ||||
| Take-home pay | ||||
| Change in take-home pay from current rates |
Corporation Tax, Employer National Insurance, the excise duties and most other taxes are set as rates. Employers pay National Insurance on earnings above £. The other sliders show an amount in £ billion and its share of the current budget. Interest, dividends and other receipts of £132 billion are fixed and are not shown as sliders. Any shortfall between income and expenditure is met by government borrowing.
Set the average duty paid on a litre of petrol or diesel, a unit of alcohol (10ml of pure alcohol) and a pack of 20 cigarettes. The amounts of fuel, alcohol and tobacco sold are estimated from the forecast receipts, and are assumed to stay the same whatever the duty.
Each slider sets the rate, or the amount a typical person pays. Receipts are assumed to change in proportion, so the other rates in the same tax move with it, and allowances and thresholds are not changed. The remaining smaller taxes and levies (such as environmental levies, customs duties, betting and gaming duties and the bank levy) are shown as a single amount.
Each slider shows an amount in £ billion and its share of the current budget. Budget deficit:
Each slider sets the amount a typical claimant receives. Spending is assumed to change in proportion, with the same number of claimants, so the other rates of the same benefit move with it. Pension Credit stands for other pensioner benefits too (such as Winter Fuel Payment), and Disability benefits covers Personal Independence Payment, Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance. The two amounts at the end are the other benefits and the rest of social protection (including public service pensions).
The Budget gives health as a single figure. These amounts split it using the proportions in HM Treasury's Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses for 2025 to 2026. NHS England's own budget is not broken down further in those tables.
Education is split in the same way. Further and higher education looks small because most of it is paid for by student loans and tuition fees. School support services include items such as school meals and transport.
This is of course an oversimplification of the decisions the Chancellor has to make every year, but it gives users a general idea.
A personal project by Simon Gray. If you enjoy this, you might like some of my music on YouTube Music, on Spotify, on Apple Music, and on Amazon. I've also got videos on YouTube. If you like it enough to give me some money, you can do that via Bandcamp. All content CC-BY-SA its respective authors. Background image by Coventry City Council.
Made with the help of Claude from an original lovingly hand-crafted project from 2014. Open source repository to make it easier for you to make your own version on GitHub.