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This isn’t just about a safety net it’s about public spending in general. In the U.K. median households are not net contributors, the U.K. tax base is exceedin

This isn’t just about a safety net it’s about public spending in general. In the U.K. median households are not net contributors, the U.K. tax base is exceedingly small the vast majority of people get much more than they put in. The average public spending in the UK is around £10,000 most households don’t pay that in income tax and NIC. Even if you take VAT into accounts it’s not enough because the primary expenses such as housing and food and transportation are VAT exempt and other common expenses like utilities have a reduced VAT of 5%.

ebalit 6y ago
> In the U.K. median households are not net contributors It seems inherent to a progressive taxation scheme? The only way I see median households being net contributors is if the taxation and redistribution made money flow from the poorest 50% to the richest 50% (either as cash or as services). I think a better indicator of how narrow the tax base is would be the percentage of households that are net fiscal contributors.