Taxpayers in London paid £16bn more in taxes last year than was spent by the Government in the capital. A study by Oxford Economics estimated people in the South Eastpaid an average £2,000 each in tax last year, to subsidise services in other parts of the country. The biggest net drain on public finances is the North West, where spending is exceeded tax paid by almost £12bn in 2006-7. In Wales, public spending exceeded taxes paid by £9.3bn, and in Scotland by £2.1bn. The study's author, Alan Wilson, said: ‘There is nothing necessarily wrong with the more prosperous parts of the country helping to finance spending in other regions.
