The parties are saying a lot about government spending and taxation and whether or not National Insurance contributions are counted in the total "tax burden". A couple of points that could be made in the political debate and are not:
1. Government expenditure is commonly said to account for 40% or more or National Income (or Gross Domestic Product). Now a moment's reflection will tell us that it's nonsense to make out that central or local government spends two pounds in every five. The truth of the matter is that government expenditure on goods and services – health, education, roads, police, defence and so on – amounts to some 25% of National Income. The other 15% or so is made up of pensions, job-seekers allowance and other benefits, which of course the recipients spend as they, not the government, choose.
2. National Insurance contributions are strictly speaking not taxes but insurance payments. OK, the boundary fixing what they are and what they are not to be spent on is fuzzy. But I regarded the contributions I paid when in employment as down payments on my state pension and insurance against needing medical treatment by the National Health Service either in my working life or in retirement years. People are living longer and with the development of medical science the health service is costing more and more. So it is reasonable to expect that National Insurance contributions will have to rise. But this is a separate issue from the general level of taxation and tax rates.