About this data
- Gross income includes earnings, pensions, investment income and cash benefits. People are ranked into tenths by their household's disposable income, adjusted for household size.
- Indirect taxes, such as VAT and fuel and alcohol duties, are estimated from what households spend, and include taxes on businesses that are passed on in prices. Poorer households spend more of their income, so indirect taxes take a larger share of it.
- ONS says the poorest tenth's share is overstated: some people with high earnings but low income in that year (for example, from a one-off tax payment or a loss) fall into it, and some households spend more than their income.
This chart appears in Taxation.