NHS levy ensures 'everyone pays their fair share'

A new levy to pay for healthcare services on the Isle of Man would ensure more residents "pay their fair share" towards the NHS, the treasury minister has said.

A consultation on the proposed new charge, which would be a separate tax on income to be ringfenced entirely for healthcare, was launched on Thursday.

Alex Allinson committed to progressing the plans to pay for health services in his 2024-25 budget announcement to help cover a 14% year-on-year rise in costs.

He said a levy "would be a significant help in terms of bridging that healthcare funding gap, which can only increase as we go forward".

The island's personal income tax rate rose from 20% to 22% for the 2024-25 financial year with the increased tax take ringfenced for health.

In February, Allinson announced that would be reduced to 21% with more money earmarked for the NHS Allocation for health from National Insurance contributions.

But he said that was still a "temporary" move and committed to bringing the figure back down to 20% in the future if the levy were to be implemented.

He said the move was because the government was "looking at different ways of raising revenue" to fund health services.

It was "absolutely right" that funding was fair and that "everyone who uses the NHS pays their fair share going forward".

The consultation outlines the Treasury's proposals for a healthcare levy, projected to bring in up to £28m of additional support for health services.

Allinson said the results of the consultation would be "key" to what happens next.

He said he wanted the levy to "be separate from National Insurance and separate from income tax" so people "could see exactly what they were paying towards the NHS every year".

When the consultation closes on 18 June, he said they would analyse the results that would "hopefully" move towards a "policy change that could then be properly debated in Tynwald".

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