The road to our future looks bright if only we were prepared to pay for it
This is Money Podcast
This is Money
4.1 • 650 Ratings
🗓️ 2 June 2017
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Would you pay more tax for better health, housing, communications, green spaces, roads, social care, railways, education, defence?
Or not?
The consensus seems to be that we would if only people felt they could trust the people who spend it on our behalf.
It’s a complex and fascinating issue for a country living way beyond its fiscal means - allow Georgie Frost, Simon Lambert and Rachel Rickard Straus to explain.
Also on the show…
A regular minimum payment to all men, women and children in Britain is the panacea for the fair, just and healthy society we’ve all been waiting for.
Isn’t it?
Enjoy.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to This Is Money podcast. I'm Georgie Frost and in the studio with me is editor Simon Lambert and personal finance editor Rachel Ricard Strauss. |
| 0:09.9 | And today we're asking what's some big money questions on how willing you'd be to pay more tax for a better Britain and whether everyone should be paid a regular wage by the government. |
| 0:19.9 | However much you earn. |
| 0:21.2 | We're talking about the pros and cons of the universal basic income. |
| 0:25.0 | But first, if there's one thing that the SNAP general election has achieved, says Simon, |
| 0:29.6 | is to make people think about how we balance funding the things that we believe Britain needs and deserves, |
| 0:35.3 | with the amount each of us are happier, willing to hand over in tax. |
| 0:39.0 | The NHS, social care and education, all taking centre stage here. |
| 0:42.8 | But we also have public transport, roads, green space and housing. |
| 0:46.5 | Where will this money come from? |
| 0:49.2 | Now, Simon, you wrote this article. |
| 0:52.1 | Firstly, why did you write it? |
| 1:03.0 | Well, I think it comes off the back of the fact that obviously we have a situation where we basically can't afford to do all the things we're meant to be doing in this country at the moment. We are in what is known as a deficit each year and quite heavily in deficit. |
| 1:08.0 | Now, our finances were dealt a severe blow by the financial crisis and the |
| 1:13.0 | cost of dealing with all of those problems, but we have for many years spent more money than we |
| 1:19.2 | can afford to and bid in this deficit. And it's starting to show on things, I think. It's starting |
| 1:23.8 | to show on things like the NHS. It's certainly starting to show on things like social care. And I would argue that it's starting to show in ways that people would notice |
| 1:30.9 | in their day-to-day lives. So I cycle to work every day and quite frankly the state of Britain's |
| 1:37.1 | rites is a disgrace. It is literally almost unbelievable. And I actually read something the other day that was suggesting that |
| 1:46.6 | we may never be able to fix them. We've allowed them to get that bad. Now, when I wander around |
| 1:50.7 | like that in the world's fifth richest economy, I do think to myself, what on earth are we ever |
| 1:57.8 | going to do about this? And then the idea comes up of, maybe we just don't pay enough money. Maybe we need to pay more tax. I mean, we ever going to do about this? And then the idea comes up of maybe we just don't pay enough money. |
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