Posted by: @prjohn

Posted by: @derek-m

Posted by: @prjohn

Posted by: @derek-m

 This money will have to come from higher taxes on us, our children or even our grandchildren in the future, or by government borrowing which could make the cost even higher.

 

This is a common myth that government investment and/or spending comes from taxes. The government owns the BoE and is also the currency owner and issuer thus cannot be indebted to itself. This website is not the place to debate this but it is sufficient to say that the government can raise the money if it so wishes. 

That's great news prjohn, so the Government can abolish all the taxes since they are surplus to requirements. That will solve the energy crises and cost of living crises at a single stroke.

No, I didn't say that. If you really want to know how government spending works there is a considerable amount of information on the internet. Also, how did the government raise the funding for Covid spending? It wasn't through borrowing.

 

Whilst I obviously don't know the inner working of Government like you, the way I interpret your statement 'This is a common myth that government investment and/or spending comes from taxes.' would mean that they collect the tax money but don't use it for Government investment or spending.

If that is the case then what do they do with the tax revenue? Do they put it in their Swiss bank accounts.

Please explain where the money comes from that the Government does spend.

Posted by: @derek-m

Please explain where the money comes from

From the European Money-tree Fund.  😋 

(It doesn't come across quite as well in print. Try saying it out loud)

Borrowing, including QE where the Bank of England buys debt. The Bank may begin selling some of the debt in 2022/2023

BBC.CO.UK "https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50504151"

How much money does the UK government borrow, and does it matter? - BBC News

The state borrows to fund day-to-day spending as well as long-term infrastructure projects.

Taxes

https://ifs.org.uk/taxlab/key-questions/where-does-government-get-its-money#:~:text=The%20government%20raises%20around%20%C2%A3,contributions%20(NICs)%20and%20VAT

@jeff

So it would appear that the Government does use money raised from taxes, quite often along with money also borrowed, to fund its spending plans. Of course if it spends more money, then it will require more tax income and/or borrowing to balance the books. Silly me, I thought that it all came from the European Money Tree, but since we are no longer in that club then I hope someone stole a cutting so that we can grow our own.

Back to the real world. Use less energy. What you do use do so in the most efficient manner. Spend your £400 on improved insulation if you can afford to do so.

Posted by: @derek-m

@jeff

So it would appear that the Government does use money raised from taxes, quite often along with money also borrowed, to fund its spending plans. Of course if it spends more money, then it will require more tax income and/or borrowing to balance the books. Silly me, I thought that it all came from the European Money Tree, but since we are no longer in that club then I hope someone stole a cutting so that we can grow our own.

Back to the real world. Use less energy. What you do use do so in the most efficient manner. Spend your £400 on improved insulation if you can afford to do so.

QE is perhaps the least understood where the government issues debt and the Bank of England buys some of that debt.

BANKOFENGLAND.CO.UK "https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/quantitative-easing"

Quantitative easing | Bank of England

The Bank of England can purchase assets to stimulate the economy. This is known as quantitative easing.

@jeff

QE, Is that not another way to describe 'live now, pay later', or better still, get someone else to pay later.

Where in the UK has the most expensive and cheapest energy bills?

A comparethemarket survey:

COMPARETHEMARKET.COM "https://www.comparethemarket.com/energy/content/the-energy-index/"

That link seems to be data from autumn '21 @prjohn  Have you seen any costs of electricity by region since the April increase?

From their web site. All data is sourced from comparethemarket.com from customer Energy Quotes between June 2020 to June 2021.

I assume this years data wouldn't be out until much later. As they have done this once it might be out earlier. We could extrapolate and make an educate guess that the rankings wouldn't really Change, as everyone was facing the same increases.

There is regional price cap data on the ofgem site if it helps

OFGEM.GOV.UK "https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/default-tariff-cap-level-1-april-2022-30-september-2022"

Energy price cap (default tariff) levels | Ofgem

Guidance for the energy sector about the maximum price they can charge people on standard variable energy tariff (default tariffs) by region and payment method.

In the Subsidiary documents section.

There is similar data for previous price caps on other pages if you want it

Given how many wind farms there are in Scotland, they are getting shafted with the highest tariffs in the UK. London the cheapest by some way.

Regional info on Standing Charges price cap if it is useful