§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total Government expenditure for the years 1962, 1972, 1982, 1983 and 1984 and the percentage of gross domestic product this represents for each of those years; and if he will provide total revenue for each of those years and express the total revenue also as a percentage of gross domestic product.
§ Mr. Peter ReesTotal general Government expenditure and receipts are as follows:
Total expenditure £ billion (a) (a) as percentage of GDP Total receipts £ billion (a) (b) as percentage of GDP 1962 10.4 36.1 9.8 33.9 1972 26.4 41.2 24.0 37.4 1982 128.7 46.5 119.3 43.1 1983 138.6 46.1 127.1 42.3 1984 145.4 45.7 135.4 42.5 Figures of total general Government expenditure and receipts are published in table 56 of Economic Trends and table 153 of the Annual Supplement to Economic Trends. Estimates of GDP at market prices are published in table 6 of Economic Trends and in table 8 of the Annual Supplement.
It should be noted that the question has been answered using general Government expenditure and receipts as defined in the national accounts. The former differs from the definition of public expenditure in Cmnd. 9428 and the latter is a wider definition than simply tax revenue.