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Taxpayers would pay £10.6B more for NHS

Chris Holbrook Find Out Now Market Research

Chris Holbrook

1st Oct, 2020 | 5 mins read

We asked a nationally representative sample of 2,000 UK adults “Roughly how much more tax per month would you be willing to pay if it went solely to the NHS and everyone in the UK paid the similar amount (within their means)?”

The results reveal support for paying an extra £27.36 tax per month on average per person, to support the NHS. If rolled out to an estimated 32,300,000 income tax payers, this would raise £10.6 Billion per year, a significant dent in an expanding deficit.

A strong majority of 71.75% said they would be willing to pay at least an extra ten pounds per month, 38.35% twenty pounds, and 21.15% at least thirty. One in thirty (3.45%) said they would pay one hundred pounds or more per month, compared to one in seventeen (5.91%) in Greater London.

Younger age groups, followed by over-65s, gave the most generous responses.

Average extra monthly tax for NHS by age

Men are apparently 69% more generous than women, with an average of £34.53 per month, compared to just £20.42 from women.

Average extra monthly tax for NHS by gender

Respondents from the South, West Midlands and Scotland are willing to pay roughly 50% more than those in the North, East of England, East Midlands and Wales.

Average extra monthly tax for NHS by region

Labour voters say they’re willing to give nearly twice as much as Conservative voters, with the Greens and SNP voters seemingly even more generous.

Average extra monthly tax for NHS by voting

Senior managers and professionals say they would give an extra £65.13, compared to £30.70 from skilled manual workers, and £15.98 from semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers. Non-workers are (perhaps un)surprisingly generous.

Average extra monthly tax for NHS by social economic group

What do these hypothetical tax payers think should determine their level of contribution? We asked 2,011 of the “£10+” respondents: “If a tax was introduced to help pay for the NHS, which of the following factor(s), if any, do you think should affect an individual’s contribution?

The results show a strong preference for means testing, with 73% choosing “Current income” and 47% choosing “Wealth” as determinants for an individual’s contribution.

If a tax was introduced to help pay for the NHS, which of the following factor(s), if any, do you think should affect an individual's contribution?

In contrast, when asked recently what taxes should be raised to pay for the cost of Covid-19 respondents overwhelmingly chose Capital Gains Tax (39.46%) compared to Income Tax (15.67%), suggesting that taxpayers are much more willing to sweat for the NHS, which they value higher than any other form of public spending.

NHS England estimates that the NHS funding gap in 2020/21 will be between eight and thirty billion pounds, depending on how many efficiency savings can be made.

About the survey

The survey of 4,964 members of Pick My Postcode was conducted on Thursday 3rd of September. Find Out Now selected a nationally representative sub-sample of 2,000 within +/-1% of ONS quotas for Age, Gender, Region, and Social-Economic Grade, and past voting using machine learning. No weighting was applied. Full results are available here.

For further information, or to request a poll or survey, contact us on ask@findoutnow.co.uk.