Tax is wrong medicine

IT IS outrageous that Vince Cable should propose tax increases as the only way of saving the NHS from its present predicament. What about the waste and inefficiency that is endemic in the health service?

You have only to consider procurement, health tourists, overstaffing of managers, the scandalous cost of agency nurses and the cost of PFI repayments to see where vast amounts of funding could be saved and raised.

It is so easy to increase the tax burden on the public, but this should be considered only when all other possibilities have been explored, rather than as a first option.

Tax is a necessary evil, but not the answer to all our problems. DAViD piNN, st Breward, Cornwall. IN REPLY to the suggestion by Vince Cable that there should be a new tax to pay for NHS treatment, I have already paid this.

Throughout my working life I’ve paid taxes and National Insurance contributions. He should be targeting people from abroad who come into this country and receive treatment without contributing a penny. M. BoLToN, address supplied. AS A pensioner who worked beyond state pension age, I agree that people such as me should be subject to National Insurance contributions to help fund the NHS.

This does not mean that people pay twice. Surely it means pensioners continue to contribute while still working. Why should anyone complain about that? A. C. ThoMpsoN, Dungannon, Co Tyrone.