Number and data: taxing and spending - Rationale

This series of lessons is designed for KS3 and makes connections between using and applying number and handling data. It provides opportunities to practice percentages, fractions, proportion, estimating and interpreting data in the context of taxes and government spending.

The activity helps students to investigate the ways government raises and spends money. Young people often have little idea that they pay tax at all so the lessons start by exploring their spending patterns and the tax they pay as result. They then move on the look at the amount of money government allocates to health, education etc. They are asked to make their own allocation and then compare it with the government’s solution – and explain the differences