Peter Rhodes on inquiries, taxes and things getting worse, not better
A reader pointed out recently that motorists and home owners can expect no help from any government when premiums rise. Why not? Because Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) is levied on every pound we pay in premiums. So Whitehall has a vested interest in higher premiums. But it gets worse.
A weekend report reveals that the taxman is making billions of pounds from IPT levied on premiums paid for private-health insurance. Many people go private in despair at ever being treated by the NHS. The more patients with health insurance, the more IPT is collected. So a backlog in the NHS could be a nice little earner for Whitehall. Of course, you'd have to be deeply cynical to make the connection, wouldn't you?
Some weeks before the General Election I suggested that “if by some miracle Rishi Sunak won, he might find himself “trying to govern a Tory-hating country which has become ungovernable.”
