Is it though, or is it simply that companies trade all over the UK but they're mostly incorporated in London and thus the numbers are inflated?

Either way, as somebody who has moved to the commuter belt for work, I think investing in the northern powerhouse and high speed rail would probably help the need for us to all be here which forces more taxes to be generated here.

Part of it is that; another part is that many people grow up outside London, spend a lot of their working life in London, then retire to somewhere outside London.

I think trying to read anything into regional tax flows isn't very productive.

I think similar arguments have been made about the top 1 or 10% of earners - that there shouldn't be any effort towards curbing their economic activity because they are net contributors whereas low-earners are not net contributors.

I think arguments like that ignore the interconnectivity of complex national systems (e.g.) a London business whose customers and suppliers are based around the country.

> I think arguments like that ignore the interconnectivity of complex national systems (e.g.) a London business whose customers and suppliers are based around the country.

And indeed employees. I'm based in Cheshire (home worker), we have offices in most cities and large towns across the country (and indeed globally). How much of my income tax is counted towards 'rural northwest' and how much to 'London' where the HQ is. How much of the profit I generate gets allocated to London.