Deborah Harrington’s interesting posting on “The Myths and Legends of Hypothecated National Insurance” (March 29 2018) in particularly relevant in the light of media speculation about hypothecated taxes or National Insurance contributions to pay for health or social care.
In Wales there is a further variation on this general theme with Professor Gerry Holtham (Dept. of Regional Economics at Cardiff Metropolitan University ) proposing the establishment a social care levy for Wales. (See link below)
The levy, based on weekly payments between £1.75 and £7, would differ from a tax in that the receipts would not go into a general government budget but rather into a separate social care fund with its own independent trustees. “A portion of ..(the fund) receipts would go to local authorities to expand social care provision straight away. The greater part of the receipts would be held back for future needs and meanwhile invested to grow over time and enable even greater social provision to be made in the future as the population ages.”
And following the National Assembly for Wales having secured its own tax raising powers at the beginning of October 2017 the Welsh Government Finance Secretary, Mark Drakeford, signaled that a levy to support social care was one of the new tax ideas he was considering.
http://www.iwa.wales/click/2017/05/solving-social-care-besides/