What would you spend money on if you were Chancellor?
Polls
12th March 2021
Written by Rachel Austin, Director, Tax and Legal, Deloitte
EACH year, the Chancellor of the Exchequer makes an announcement on the UK’s finances, known as the Budget. Just like you might negotiate how much pocket money you get and decide how to spend it, the Chancellor announces how the Government will collect money from taxes and how much will be spent on public services like schools, hospitals, police and the armed forces.
The current Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, delivered his 2021 Budget speech to Parliament on 3 March. This year’s Budget is particularly important because the Government has spent a lot of extra money helping people and businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. People wanted to know whether the support will continue over the next few months while many businesses remain closed and some people can’t work, and whether the Chancellor will increase taxes to pay for the extra spending.
The Chancellor explained that, like most countries in the world, the UK has been badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 700,000 people have lost their jobs since last March and the UK economy was 10% smaller in 2020 than it was in 2019 – the biggest fall in 300 years.
How much money does the government spend?
Over the next year, the Government will collect £820 billion in taxes from people and businesses, and spend £1,053 billion on public services. It’s hard to imagine this much money. If you stack £10 notes on their side next to each other, £1 million pounds would make a stack 10m long – the length of a bus.
£1 billion would be 10km long, which would take about two hours to walk. £1,053 billion would reach all the way from the UK to Japan! The Government plans to spend more than it will collect in taxes, so it will need to borrow the rest. The last time the UK borrowed this much money was during World War Two.
What will the Chancellor do this year?
The Chancellor explained his plan to help the UK recover from the COVID-19 pandemic:
- The Government will carry on helping businesses and families until September.
- The Chancellor will raise more money from taxes to start paying back the money the Government borrowed. He said that people and businesses who can afford it will be asked to pay more.
- The Chancellor said he wants to start planning for the future by helping businesses reopen safely after lockdown, helping people to learn new skills, creating new jobs in the UK and helping businesses to grow.
What was in the Budget for young people?
The Government will spend an extra £700 million helping children catch up on things they missed while schools were closed. Some of the money will be used for summer schools. The Government will spend extra money on sports, TV and film, theatres and museums, plus a bid to bring the FIFA World Cup to the UK and Ireland in 2030.
The Chancellor said he wants to improve the environment and announced investment in green energy. What would you do if you were Chancellor? Think about the things that are most important to you. Maybe you’d spend more money on schools and sports facilities, or use taxes to encourage people to be more environmentally friendly.
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33 Comments
ellabeegee · 4 years ago
Yay first to comment
ellabeegee · 4 years ago
I would spend money on getting rid of climate change because it’s something that really worries me
ansha007 · 4 years ago
hi, i would focus on education... that outweighs the rest
ira497 · 4 years ago
I would spend education and climate change. As helping the next generation both academically and helping the world they are in is equally important.
ira497 · 4 years ago
Second to comment 😔
mrsbieber9 · 4 years ago
I believe the chancellor top priority’s should be education, schemes to help people be more ‘green’, and support for elderly because the first two will help a lot with our generation and the next, and support for the elderly to give everyone the best possible opportunities.
kittymoi · 4 years ago
also climate change
the world is getting hotter
historygal · 4 years ago
I know it seems small compared to the NHS and education, but I would spend more money on historical sites and jobs such as archaeologists and historians as otherwise we could loose some of our valuable history forever and historical objects don’t come back when they are. destroyed
historygal · 4 years ago
@ Ella Berger I agree!
historygal · 4 years ago
Oops sorry Ella auto corrected 🤦🏼♀️
edu · 4 years ago
I agree
scarlet10 · 4 years ago
even though I'm ten i still have thoughts on things
ivansp2011 · 4 years ago
IDK they are all needed!!!!
ivansp2011 · 4 years ago
Like, I would use more on exploring space and underwaters so we could get a better understanding of the world.
juliajules · 4 years ago
I agree with you and I would also add animal welfare because I care a lot about both
jave · 4 years ago
I would spend the money on a giant flat screen TV and hot dogs
kuhuzoo9 · 4 years ago
Education first and foremost then I guess poorer people and new businesses will need support but these r all good ways to invest money on and better the UK
cat55 · 4 years ago
i hate climate change, i want to make the world a greener place! Nobody stop dreaming about a greener planet. i would give money to world saving charities and education and the NHS
tennis22 · 4 years ago
I voted the NHS education and support for poorer people but I also think we should have more renewable energy
squish123 · 4 years ago
NHS is what I think and right now education is at the top of the poll but you have to realise that we can't have face to face lessons without the NHS making school a lot harder. I would say education is second.
xxcocoaxx · 4 years ago
I feel like some people are ignoring the affects of climate change and think that it will get better by itself.
ansha007 · 4 years ago
education is winning
mothstar · 4 years ago
people don't realize that cutting down trees means that they are killing themselves in the process
krixkrax8 · 4 years ago
I would get rid of climate change because it worries me to so renewable energy.
Plus you need to use all that energy that you have produced so schemes to help people get more "green".
Last but not least I chose help the poorer because they are dying of hunger ang dont have any clean water.
krixkrax8 · 4 years ago
there was ment to be a full stop in the middle of the to and the so
krixkrax8 · 4 years ago
sorry meant to be too, not to.
krazy-kat · 4 years ago
I would spend it for poor people because everyone needs a chance to live happily with education and water and i would spend it on the NHS as they have helped us but not only in the coronavirus times but for people being/staying healthy and strong.
freya2909 · 4 years ago
The NHS is important x
opalstar · 4 years ago
There were so many needy things that needed to be helped with and done I chose the NHS, EDUCATION and POORER PEOPLE. Because right now in these times I think these are our main priorities. They all lead back to the virus. NHS helps with the virus/ vaccinating. EDUCATION. How children and teachers need help to support themselves and those around them. POORER PEOPLE are more likely to catch the virus, it will have horrible effects on themselves, so we need to help and they could spread it having no resources to protect themselves and those around them.
cat55 · 4 years ago
'jave' I would never agree with you!
waterpaint · 4 years ago
I would try to help the environment
enyu_enbao · 3 years ago
Education, cause it comes before everything else on the list. For example, to create better transport you would need intelligence and brains, and like the armed forces, you would need to think to come up with better defenses etc.
dolphin26 · 2 years ago
I think that I would spend it on education, because if children learn... oh, let's make this easy:
education=learn=smart=job=money=help poor people.
;) :)