YET ANOTHER TAX

Gordon Brown will probably view today’s “Telegraph” front page as a god send. With the headline “Doctors call for NHS income tax to finance health care” you can almost here the woops of joy emanating from the chancellor’s office. A motion to be debated by the BMA at it’s summer conference next week will call for a separate tax to finance the service, with contributions paid for by insurance companies, employers, individuals and where a means test threshold kicks in, topped up by the government. Hang on, isn’t this what already happens. Businesses are taxed, it comes out of your wages and it goes towards the health service. Private insurance can be taken out, with companies paying money direct to the NHS when the policy is called on. Why then, would Gordon be happy about a proposal on a system that already exists? The answer is because this would be a new tax, separate from the one your already pay, one which will appear on your wage packet with the worlds “NHS Tax” after it. This will be the king of all stealth taxes and without a corresponding drop in income tax and national insurance contributions, Brown will find his coffers awash with cash. The other beauty for him is that to argue against the principal is to argue against the health service, a nationalised industry that remains untouchable by modern practise or commerce. The introduction of a new tax stream for health is unwarranted; some people already pay more than others through taxes on cigarettes and alcohol, and the vast majority of the average taxpayers contributions already goes to the health service. Rather than pump more money into what already is a bottomless pit, efficiencies should be driven home from the bottom. Health care trusts in Sunderland operate day centres were single mothers are given free fruit, milk and vegetables. DVD’s, televisions and free coffee are provided for them to fill the day in. Sadly, this is not what the health service is for and services like this should be withdrawn immediately. If this practise is replicated through out the country, millions of pounds is being wasted creating an underclass of people who expect “everything for nothing”. If necessary, efficiency savings you be bolstered with small charges for certain aspects of the NHS. Any visitor to an emergency hospital on a Friday or Saturday night will tell you it is full of drink related cases. If people can afford to get drink themselves into oblivion, they can afford £20 for the privilege of having their stomach pumped or head stitched. To counter the argument that these charges are in themselves a form of stealth tax, they relate to instances where you have a choice; nobody is forced to drink 20 vodka ice drinks, so if you do, leave a bit of money in your pocket for the nurses bill!