I will be spending much of today with medical professionals. They're also activists. We'll be talking about health care and tax justice.<\/p>\n
In my opinion the two are inextricably linked. Tax justice is, I think correctly, focussed on the mechanisms for creating appropriate and fair distributions of both liability and collection within tax systems, but I know of no one who is linked to it that does not think this is a process linked to tax outcomes. <\/p>\n
Good healthcare for all is a tax outcome; it cannot happen without tax. I am well aware there are those on the right who argue otherwise but I do not think either the USA or Singapore prove otherwise.<\/p>\n
The questions for the day then are to ask how these links be made explicit and how can awareness of them be raised? <\/p>\n
Right now the link between austerity and services has become apparent, but that focusses on the spend element of the tax and spend cycle. What about the tax bit? <\/p>\n
And does tax have a greater role to play in creating healthy behaviour?<\/p>\n
Is it appropriate as well to ask about the tax dimensions of NHS privatisation - where, I can assure you,mtax havens feature in a big way?<\/p>\n
Plus, is the NHS the right way to draw attention to the tax gap?<\/p>\n
I am sure these are some if the questions that will be asked. And there will be others, I am sure. <\/p>\n
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