Andy Burnham demands FOUR tax rises to pay for social care 'pensioners must contribute!'
LABOUR Mayor Andy Burnham has demanded ALL taxes are ramped up to pay for the UK's broken social care system and pensioners should pay their fair share as the fierce debate rolls into its second day.
Andy Burnham demands taxes are raised to pay for social care
Speaking to Radio 4 Mr Burnham stood by a plan earmarked when he was Health Secretary under former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown which at the time was branded a 'death tax'. The tax would see Britons taxed on their estates to pay for social care but was met with fierce opposition as it would mean pensioners having to shell out 10 percent of their wealth to cover their own social care. Mr Burnham also suggested a full tax assault which would see income tax, inheritance tax, capital gains tax and a wealth tax ramped up to pay for social care in what he branded was an NHS-style system to pay for social care of the future. He insisted this solution was "fairer" and insisted it meant everyone contributes.
He said: “I would have asked all pensioners to make a contribution - 10 percent of their estate. That would be to introduce the NHS principal to social care.
“Because everybody would be required to contribute but then everybody would benefit and no-one would have the threat of being unable to pay."
He insisted that deal is superior to the deal Mr Johnson is currently working on this week and is ultimately "fairer" and would take the burden off poorer and younger areas of society who under Mr Johnson's are set to be hit hardest by a hike in National Insurance contributions.
Mr Burnham suggested how "for the vast majority of people" would get peace of mind at a much lower cost before insisting how he cannot understand how social care can be paid for "without asking pensioners to make a contribution".
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His ardent demands will see pensioners and OAP's fall into the crosshairs of the social care reform debate and expect them to pay up.
He added how failing to do that in his view is to come up with a "flawed solution that won’t stand the test of time.”
Mr Burnham then added how his plans would see a massive tax assualt whereby wealth taxes would be hiked up and he would "look at raising the threshold for capital gains tax".
The Labour Mayor also suggested how there is a case "to make more contributions from income tax, particularly a higher rate" which he argued altogether "could make up this shortfall.”
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Mr Burnham's comments come as meetings to discuss the social care plan for England took place between the Prime Minister, Chancellor Rishi Sunak, and Health Secretary Sajid Javid over the weekend, according to government sources.
The plans would see Boris Johnson's manifesto promise to solve the social care crisis in England begin to make pace despite the Prime Minister making no prior action on the issue.
It has been reported the government is considering increasing the National Insurance rate by one percentage point from 12% to 13%, while the rate for higher earnings goes up from 2 percent to 3 percent.
But the government is facing a backlash from Conservative backbenchers and members of the cabinet for the plans which they argue undermine the post-Covid economic recovery and smash a manifesto pledge of not hiking taxes to pay for social care.
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According to government estimates, raising the National Insurance rates for employees by one percentage point would raise about £5.4bn a year while increasing the rate paid by employers from 13.8 percent to 14.8 percent would raise about £6.5bn a year.
The Government argue implementing rates for others such as the profits of self-employed people would raise about another £600m. Around 12 percent of earnings up to about £50,000 a year go towards National Insurance, above that point you pay 2 percent of your earnings.
That means somebody on £20,000 a year would pay an extra £104, while someone on £50,000 would pay £404 more.
National Insurance is a tax paid on earnings and the profits of self-employed workers. When you are employed you start paying National Insurance once you’re earning just under £10,000 a year.