Taxation, Health and Social Care

This chapter examines aspects of the role of taxation in health and social care in the UK. It examines the taxation basis for the funding of the NHS and its durability over time and juxtaposes this with the persistent calls for change in the way social care - only partially funded through taxation - is financed. The chapter explores public support for raising taxes to increase funding for the NHS, the increased use of taxation to fund private health care providers and attempts by both private providers and NHS Trusts to reduce tax liabilities through appeals to ‘charitable’ status. It considers two key ways in which taxation is implicated in the need to reduce socio-economic inequalities in order to reduce health inequalities. The first concerns the role of taxation in achieving a redistribution of resources and the second the levying of taxes on health-harming behaviours at both industry and individual levels.