# FILE NAME: 00001527.soc
# TITLE: Should the NHS be funded by a national tax on food, instead of income tax? [7409981ca859ca5d6ca848d0a3c57e02]
# DESCRIPTION: 
# DATA TYPE: soc
# MODIFICATION TYPE: original
# RELATES TO: 
# RELATED FILES: 
# PUBLICATION DATE: 2025-10-12
# MODIFICATION DATE: 2025-10-12
# NUMBER ALTERNATIVES: 4
# NUMBER VOTERS: 5
# NUMBER UNIQUE ORDERS: 4
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 1: Statement 1 - The NHS should be funded by an increase in income tax, which must be implemented fairly so that the most affluent members of society pay the greatest share. We do not think the NHS should be funded through a national tax on food because this would place an additional burden on lower income groups. In addition to this, poor nutrition has been linked to many health issues that the NHS would be expected to treat, so a food tax may ultimately work against the objective of improving the nation’s health. During the conversation, participants were grouped using different clustering algorithms, from a k-means algorithm to complete-linkage hierarchical clustering. Throughout the discussion, a moderator issued a series of prompts to give structure to the conversation and to encourage more contributions. One such prompt asked participants how much they agreed or disagreed with the draft consensus statement and, in addition, asked if they thought it was worded in a balanced way. Other prompts elicited individual opinions and critiques. Above, the text was divided into “participants”, “critiques”, and “final consensus”. The “participants” section encompasses all of the individual opinions. The “critiques” section describes all of the critiques
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 2: Statement 2 - While it is important that the NHS is adequately funded, we do not believe it is appropriate to fund the NHS through a national tax on food. Food is an essential necessity that cannot be substituted, so the tax would have to be shared by the entire population, making it highly regressive. This would have a significant impact on the poorer members of society, who are already facing challenges to their health, and may result in many vulnerable people being unable to afford enough nutritious food to stay healthy. The poor would be disproportionately affected by a food tax as they spend a larger proportion of their income on food. For this reason, we believe that income tax should continue to be the main source of funding for the NHS. However, it is crucial that this tax is implemented fairly, so that the most affluent members of society pay the greatest share. In order to do this, the current system of income tax should be reviewed.
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 3: Statement 3 - While it is important that the NHS is adequately funded, we do not believe it is appropriate to fund the NHS through a national tax on food. Food is an essential necessity that cannot be substituted, so the tax would have to be shared by the entire population, making it highly regressive. This would have a significant impact on the poorer members of society, who are already facing challenges to their health, and may result in many vulnerable people being unable to afford enough nutritious food to stay healthy. The poor would be disproportionately affected by a food tax as they spend a larger proportion of their income on food. For this reason, we believe that income tax should continue to be the main source of funding for the NHS. However, it is crucial that this tax is implemented fairly, so that the most affluent members of society pay the greatest share. In order to do this, the current system of income tax should be reviewed.
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 4: Statement 4 - We believe that the NHS should continue to be funded primarily through income tax. However, we recognise that the current system is inequitable, as those with higher incomes pay a smaller proportion of their income in tax. Therefore, we believe that the current system of income tax should be reviewed.
2: 2,3,4,1
1: 2,3,1,4
1: 3,2,4,1
1: 3,2,1,4