Boris Johnson is preparing to announce a cap on the amount people have to pay for their care as soon as next week.
Number 10 and the Treasury are said to be putting the final touches to a deal to fix the social care crisis.
The Prime Minister is understood to be keen to publish reforms before the second anniversary of his admission into Downing Street on July 24, when he first pledged to bring forward plans.
Last night it was claimed that Downing Street was contemplating introducing a new tax to pay for the reforms.
A newspaper outlet reported that No 10 was comfortable with imposing an additional tax on families.
However, senior Tories fear it would break the party’s manifesto pledge not to increase income tax, National Insurance or VAT.
It could mean a separate social care levy on income, or an added amount that only the over 40s would have to pay.
Caroline Abrahams of Age UK said that if a reliable package of social care refinancing and reform needed a tax increase, then so be it, given that it’s fair.
Following a speech, Boris Johnson said people would see his social care plans before too long.
The reforms, intended to prevent people from being landed with sky-high care bills, which forced them to sell their homes, are considered to be based on those first put forward by Sir Andrew Dilnot just over a decade ago.
Sir Andrew Dilnot proposes that there should be a lifetime cap on care costs set at £50,000, after which the state would step in to pay.
One senior Tory said the Prime Minister refers to Sir Andrew Dilnot’s proposals as his plan, but the Treasury, concerned about the £10 billion cost of the reforms, has been arguing for the cap to be placed at a somewhat higher level.
It’s understood that Boris Johnson is personally pushing for the social care package to be nailed down in the coming days as the second anniversary of his promise to fix the crisis approaches.
And he told colleagues that he wants to use his 80 strong majority to find a lasting settlement that will smash the problem for a generation.
Sources initially played down the possibility of a breakthrough, but following further discussions, optimism was mounting that a settlement might eventually be struck.
Tax, tax and more tax, that’s all we’re hearing from this Government these days, aside from the usual COVID threats, of course, along with all their green agenda policies.
And it’s this Etonian motto, tax the serfs to pay for the regalia they own.
The middle rich will become poor, the poor will become non-existent, so it’s not worth working these days as you’re simply giving your wages away to your masters, and you’re working in servitude for the likes of Boris Johnson, and now you’ll be paying through this new tax, it doesn’t matter which arm of the government it’s funnelled through, and denial doesn’t solve the problem.
In another article Boris Johnson was cited as saying that he wasn’t drawn to the idea of additional taxes on hardworking people – one day he’ll decide precisely what he does stand for, or maybe he just needs more advisors to make that choice for him.
This is a man who said no new taxes or tax rises, but he appears to now be threatening the opposite every day, which means that his manifesto was just more lies by a perpetual deceiver.
