Hypothecation of tax revenue for health
Background Paper, 51
Overview
Hypothecating tax revenue is not inherently right or wrong. It depends crucially on whether citizens trust its government to spend tax revenues wisely or not. This is evident from the fact that the same argument is made in favour as well as against hypothecated taxes. While proponents argue that they limit a governments' propensity to spend according to their own agenda, critics retort that they curtail a governments' flexibility to spend when and where it is needed most.
This report is part of a series, The World Health Report 2010 Background Papers, which were written to inform the process of developing the key messages of the World Health Report 2010: Health systems financing: The path to universal coverage.