while the economic income of the lowest decile equals only 8% of the income of the highest decile (a slight improvement as compared with 6.6% 40 years ago), the payments that they receive and the fact that their income tax and national insurance payments equal less than 2% of that of the highest decile, raise their disposable income to 19% of that of the highest decile. When one also takes into account the services that are provided directly by the government, the inequality is reduced even further, raising the lowest decile's actual income (financial plus the value of services provided) to 27% of that of the highest decile. This is 3.4 times more than before government intervention.