Are you a contributor to or a burden on the nation's finances? Ed Monk asked the question in The Daily Mail a few weeks agowhen a new study came out from the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) showing that some 53% of households took in more in benefits than they paid in tax in 2010/11. In 1979 that number was 43.1%.
The numbers in question are all averages of course, but using them, it seems that you have to get into the top two quintiles of income in order to be paying out more than you take in. If you are in the top 20-40%, you are paying in around £4,000 more than you get back. If you are in the top 20% you are paying in an extra £20,000. And if you are in the bottom 20%? You are getting out £10,000 more than you put in.
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