Taxation pays for the public services we all rely on. But increases to National Insurance contributions are the wrong tax at the wrong time. The government keep choosing to increase the burden on ordinary workers, rather than addressing inequality and wealth, and the National Insurance increase announced last year is not different.
National Insurance is a tax on jobs and working people, because it does not tax ‘unearned’ income – such as money that landlords make from rental income or investment returns from stocks and shares.
In the Spring, the government gave into pressure on the rise to National Insurance, and changed the threshold above which it is paid. This cancels out the surcharge for some workers, but others will still find that they are paying more.
Before the Spring Statement, UNISON wrote to the Chancellor asking him to scrap the National Insurance rise altogether, and finding fairer ways to raise the funding that the NHS and social care desperately need.