Increase in support for tax rises to fund NHS

[Northerner]

Public support for a tax increase devoted to the NHS has grown sharply in only two years, according to the Kings’ s Fund.

Its analysis of data on attitudes towards the NHS from last year’s British Social Attitudes survey found 61% of respondents supported tax rises to increase NHS funding, up by 12 percentage points from 2016.

The health policy think-tank said its findings showed “the public are increasingly anxious about the state of the NHS and [there is] a growing consensus that the NHS is facing a funding crisis”.

Of those who supported higher taxes, 35% thought there should be a specific NHS tax, while the reminder preferred to pay more through existing taxes.

The King’s Fund said public concern about the quality of NHS care has risen, with fears that it would not improve running at their highest levels since the early 2000s.

http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2018/04/increase-support-tax-rises-fund-nhs

 

[mikeyB]

Aye, but I wouldn’t trust the government with a hypothecated tax any further than I could throw them. Whoever is in power. National insurance lasted less than a decade before the government realised this was easy money, willingly given, and got their sticky fingers into the money.