Every UK tax, and what it raises

How much tax is collected in total?

One measure throughout this page: HMRC's cash receipts by financial year, outturn, from its annual receipts table. Every figure below is a column of that table, and together they add to its total (£937.8bn in 2025–26) to within 3 million pounds of HMRC's own rounding. The public sector share of GDP beside it is a different, wider measure (the National Accounts), which also counts council tax, business rates and non-tax receipts. How the parts are reconciled to the total.

What does each tax raise?

The 32 taxes and receipts add to £937.8bn; HMRC's published total for 2025–26 is £937.8bn. The −£3m difference is rounding in HMRC's table.

Penalties are not a tax, but HMRC counts them in its total, so they are shown as a receipt of their own. Petroleum Revenue Tax is negative: older North Sea fields are repaid tax for decommissioning.

What is being taxed?

Taxes on what people earn bring in 56.7% of the total and taxes on what they buy 26.7%; taxes on what they own and leave raise 5.6% between them.

What is not on this list?

These are compulsory charges that HMRC does not collect, so they are not in its receipts table and are not added to the total above. Adding them would mix two measures; each has a page of its own.

• Council tax: Set and collected by councils, not HMRC.
• Business rates: Collected by councils and pooled by the Treasury, not HMRC.
• Vehicle Excise Duty: Collected by the DVLA, not HMRC.
• TV licence fee: Collected by the BBC.

The TV licence fee is paid into the Consolidated Fund and matched by a grant back to the BBC from DCMS. It has a page because it is a compulsory household charge, not because it belongs in this table.

Where does it go?

Almost none of it is earmarked. For every £100 of tax shows what public spending actually buys, and the overall tax burden puts today's level in three centuries of context.

Every page in every tax

On pay

• Income tax A tax on what you earn, charged in slices, with the first slice free and each slice above it taxed at a higher rate. Raised £326.9bn, 34.9% of all tax. £326.9bn Income tax raised, 2025–26
• National Insurance A second tax on earnings, paid by employees, employers and the self-employed, which buys a record of contributions towards the state pension. Raised £200.8bn, 21.4% of all tax. £200.8bn National Insurance raised, 2025–26
• Student loan repayments Thresholds, interest and write-off by plan, and whether a student loan works like a graduate tax. 9% Of income above £29,385, Plan 2

On spending

• VAT A tax on most spending, charged at 20% on the standard rate, collected by businesses at every stage and ultimately paid by whoever buys the finished thing. Raised £179.9bn, 19.2% of all tax. £179.9bn VAT raised, 2025–26
• Fuel duty: the rate, and how it got there Fuel duty is 52.95p a litre, frozen until at least 31 December 2026, with the full rate history. 52.95p UK fuel duty, per litre
• Alcohol duties A duty on alcoholic drinks, charged by the amount of pure alcohol in them, with VAT then charged on top of the duty. Raised £12.4bn, 1.3% of all tax. £12.4bn Alcohol duties raised, 2025–26
• Tobacco duty A duty on tobacco products, charged as both a percentage of the retail price and a flat amount per thousand cigarettes, with a minimum floor. Raised £7.6bn, 0.8% of all tax. £7.6bn Tobacco duty raised, 2025–26
• Insurance Premium Tax A tax on general insurance premiums, charged instead of VAT, which insurance is exempt from. Raised £9.0bn, 1.0% of all tax. £9.0bn Insurance Premium Tax raised, 2025–26
• Air Passenger Duty A per-passenger duty on flights departing UK airports, rising with distance and class of travel. Raised £4.6bn, 0.5% of all tax. £4.6bn Air Passenger Duty raised, 2025–26
• Soft Drinks Industry Levy A charge on producers of sugary soft drinks, set at two levels depending on sugar content, designed to make them reformulate rather than to raise money. Raised £354m, 0.0% of all tax. £354m Soft Drinks Industry Levy raised, 2025–26
• Betting and gaming duties A group of separate duties on bookmakers, casinos, online gaming, bingo, gaming machines and the National Lottery. Raised £3.8bn, 0.4% of all tax. £3.8bn Betting and gaming duties raised, 2025–26
• Landfill Tax A tax per tonne of waste sent to landfill, charged on the operator of the site. Raised £623m, 0.1% of all tax. £623m Landfill Tax raised, 2025–26
• Plastic Packaging Tax A charge per tonne on plastic packaging containing less than 30% recycled plastic, aimed at creating demand for recycled material. Raised £256m, 0.0% of all tax. £256m Plastic Packaging Tax raised, 2025–26
• Climate Change Levy A tax on the energy that businesses and the public sector use, charged per unit supplied. Raised £1.8bn, 0.2% of all tax. £1.8bn Climate Change Levy raised, 2025–26

On property and wealth

• Stamp Duty Land Tax A tax on buying property, charged in slices of the purchase price, with different systems in Scotland and Wales. Raised £15.2bn, 1.6% of all tax. £15.2bn Stamp Duty Land Tax raised, 2025–26
• Capital gains tax A tax on the profit when you sell something that has gone up in value, not on the sale price itself. Raised £24.3bn, 2.6% of all tax. £24.3bn Capital gains tax raised, 2025–26
• Inheritance tax A 40% tax on the part of an estate above the nil-rate band, paid by the estate before anything is passed on. Raised £8.5bn, 0.9% of all tax. £8.5bn Inheritance tax raised, 2025–26
• Vehicle Excise Duty, or "road tax" An annual charge for keeping a vehicle on a public road, set by emissions for newer cars and by engine size for the oldest.

Hidden and stealth taxes

• Stealth taxes How tax rises without a headline rate rising: freezes, cut allowances, hidden marginal rates and taxes in prices. £42bn Raised by frozen thresholds in 2026–27
• Frozen thresholds, and what they cost 12 thresholds held in cash, what they would be had they risen with prices, and what the freezes raise. £12,570 Personal Allowance, frozen 2021 to 2031
• What frozen thresholds cost a household The extra income tax and National Insurance the freezes cost at four salaries, with the method shown. £979 A year, for someone earning £35,000
• Hidden marginal tax rates The 60% band, the child benefit charge, the universal credit taper and student loans, stacked on income tax. 62% Lost from each extra pound between £100,000 and £125,140
• Cut allowances: capital gains, dividends and savings The capital gains, dividend and savings allowances: what each is now, what it was, and who pays more. £3,000 Capital gains tax allowance
• Taxes hidden in prices £176.0bn a year in taxes collected from businesses and built into prices and pay. £176bn A year in taxes collected from businesses and passed on
• Taxes you pay indirectly Taxes charged on businesses that reach households anyway, through higher prices, lower wages or smaller pension pots. Raised £95.1bn, 10.1% of all tax. £95.1bn Taxes you pay indirectly raised, 2025–26

The big picture

• The overall tax burden Receipts are 40.3% of GDP, against a peak of 43.3% in 1949–50. 40.3% Public sector receipts as a share of GDP
• Taxes over a lifetime Every tax, fee and fine one illustrative person meets, from first payslip to estate. A lifetime Every tax one person meets
• When a tax rise stops raising money Tobacco duty per cigarette up 247.6%, cigarettes taxed down 75.1%, real receipts 46.3% below their 2011–12 peak. -46.3% Real tobacco duty receipts since 2011–12