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Paying for 'World Class' Services: A British Dilemma.

Taylor-Gooby, Peter, Hastie, Charlotte L. (2003) Paying for 'World Class' Services: A British Dilemma. Journal of Social Policy, 32 (2). pp. 271-288. ISSN 0047-2794. (doi:10.1017/S0047279402006992) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:406)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0047279402006992

Abstract

Welfare spending in the UK is too low to provide services at the level to which most citizens aspire. The problem is that, although most people state in surveys that they would like to pay higher taxes for better services, politicians from all the main parties generally do not believe that they would put their vote where their mouth is. Advocates of higher spending increasingly retreat to a position of promoting ear-marked taxes for specific, highly favoured services, as in the 2002 Budget plan to finance the cost of improvements in the highly valued NHS through increased National Insurance Contributions. Recent theoretical work further undermines arguments for higher state spending: an important strand in political science argues that trust in state institutions is in decline, and work in sociology claims that citizens are becoming more independent, reflexive and keen to take responsibility for meeting their own needs. This paper uses data from a recent ESRC-financed national survey to examine these arguments. It shows real support for hypothecated taxes for the NHS, and more generalised support for higher taxes for welfare provision. Such support is not undermined by a decline in citizen trust in the welfare state or by a rejection of collective solutions. However, there is little endorsement of hypothecated taxation in other areas, and the use of such measures may encourage citizens in a pick-and-mix approach to welfare services.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1017/S0047279402006992
Uncontrolled keywords: paying services british welfare
Subjects: H Social Sciences
H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research
Depositing User: Samantha Osborne
Date Deposited: 19 Dec 2007 18:13 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 09:39 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/406 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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