Paying more tax?

 ... We think we can have the low tax levels of the Anglosphere with high northern European levels of public services, and we can't.

In Britain, the tax take - tax as a percentage of GDP - at 33.5 per cent is closer to the Anglosphere than to northern Europe. In the US, it is 26.6 per cent, in Australia 28.5 and in Canada 33.2. In Germany, meanwhile, the tax take is 39.5 per cent, in Scandinavia it is 43.7 per cent on average and in France it is 45.1 per cent.

Britons, however, have high expectations of what the state will provide for them. - in some areas,  higher than those of the Europeans. Even the French are required to contribute to the costs of their healthcare, but no politician in this country dares suggest Britons should fork out a penny to see a doctor because they know they would be out on their ear at the next election.

Health and Wealth
Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942)
Photo Credit: Yale Centre for British Art [Public Domain]

The reach of British public services is growing more European, too. Childcare used to be left largely to parents in this country but that has changed in recent years and now the state is providing an almost Scandinavian degree of care.

Meanwhile, an ageing population is increasing the demands on the state. It is, for instance, putting more pressure on the social care system, which is already in a shocking condition. Sorting it out will cost the state another chunk of cash. Germany and Japan, who are reckoned to manage the system best, do it by skimming an extra 1.5 per cent or so off workers' pay in "social insurance" (ie tax)...

If the government doesn't manage a remarkable boost in growth, how is it to close the gap between public expectations and tax revenues? It could cut public spending but the fuss around means-testing the winter fuel tax allowance - a small and entirely justified cut - shows how much trouble that would cause.

The only alternative is to increase revenues. Labour has implied it will not raise taxes on "working people"... It's "those with the broadest shoulders", Starmer [British Prime Minister, Keith Starmer]  warned, who will be forking out more....

According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies in its most recent comparison, the average tax paid on full-time median earnings in the UK was 28 per cent; in Germany it was 46.6 per cent and in France 47.8 per cent. The real story is that if people want a wide range of well funded public services, they are going to have to pay more tax...

(Emma Duncan, The Times, 2024)

A pity that the sources outlining different taxation levels in various countries are not delivered. Where does that information come from?

Germany and Japan, who are reckoned to manage the system best, - by whom?

 Increased taxation on the majority and a wealth tax could alleviate some of our problems. Will it happen? I wouldn't bet on it.