Every taxpayer is to receive a personal statement spelling out exactly how much of their income is paid to the state and what it is being spent on.

Chancellor George Osborne is expected to use his budget to announce plans to issue annual personal tax statements from 2014-15.

Specimen statements prepared by the Treasury show someone on £25,200 a year sees £5,702.12 of their income go to the exchequer in direct taxation.

Of that, the biggest slice goes on welfare which accounts for £1,900.71, followed by £992.91 for health and £743.26 for education.

Interest payments on the national debt account for £363.12 – somewhat ahead of the £329.08 for defence and more than double the £153.19 for the police.

Overseas aid gets £56.74 while £28.37 goes towards the cost of Britain's contribution to the European Union.

The statements are said to be part of the government's drive to make the tax system simpler and more transparent.

A Treasury source said: "It is quite right that people know how much tax they pay and what it is spent on."

However, with the first statements due to arrive a year before the expected date of the next general election, Tory strategists will clearly hope they will keep up the pressure on Labour over public spending.