News Company

National insurance: a UK tax which is complex and vulnerable to political intervention

  • Written by Gavin Midgley, Senior Teaching Fellow in Accounting, University of Southampton

The UK government has announced plans to raise the rate of national insurance by 1.25% to fund increased spending on health and social care. The move has divided opinion – and also brought attention to a tax that is one of the largest in terms of treasury revenue (second only to income tax), but probably one of the least understood.

Introduced...