Perhaps the most interesting thing about the debate on the increase in National Insurance Contributions for the self-employed is that it lays bare the lie that people are happier to pay more tax to fund the NHS.
In December, the Guardian reported a study that suggested that 70 per cent of people would ‘happily pay an extra 1p in every pound if that money was guaranteed to go to the NHS’, while almost half of the 1,000 people surveyed said that they would even pay an extra 2p in the £.
Where are these people now? A 2p in the £ increase suggested for a sub-section of people (a sub-section, don’t forget that currently pays less than those who are employed by firms to do the same jobs, and who will still pay less even after this increase) has led to all hell breaking loose. It seems the reality is that people want more money to go into the NHS, only so long as someone else is providing it.
The extent to which that is true could be heard clearly on last night’s Question Time, where people repeatedly commented on the fact that it should be ‘the rich’ who pay more.
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