In the past day or two, a few unsettling headlines that show the NHS in a bad light have got everyone arguing again about who in Westminster is going to save the day by giving it the spending it deserves (the reality is far scarier as I blogged about here). This has followed recent political deliberations from politicians and political commentators alike about whether
a council tax rise is the answer to our social care funding crisis. It is not;
in fact, raising council tax to fund the social care crisis is a bit like
trying to get rid of a stray cat from your back door by throwing tuna chucks at
it.
One of the big problems in
the UK
The main reason this
problem has been allowed to get out of hand, not just here, but right
throughout Europe , is because there is not
enough of an incentive for politicians to curb their spending. And the reason
for this is that the tax burden falls disproportionately on a small subsection
of the population, whereas the voting habits fall on a much wider proportion of
the population. For example, the bottom 50% of earners are only picking up
about 5% of the total tax bill, so their motives to desire increased public
spending are out of kilter with the viability of that spending.
A good way to lessen this
problem would be to introduce a tax reduction program whereby the tax bill is
distributed more evenly while at the same time reduced as a whole. So, for
example, if there was a cap on how much the highest earners could be taxed
measured up against the average tax, the incentives to oppose dodgier costly
government spending projects would be heightened, as would government revenue
to pay for the increasing social care costs (the costs that aren't picked up by
the clients themselves). It would also help if we sorted out this little problem I blogged about a few years ago.
