Frequently asked questions
Taxes
How are “taxes earmarked for social security" accounted for?
(See PG 11.14) In the NHA, taxes that are earmarked for social security are allocated to the source groups that paid them. Employers are the source of the taxes they pay, and households are the source of taxes paid by employees. The reason for this treatment is that such taxes are in essence a form of premium, and should be treated in the same way as premiums paid to private social insurance or voluntary medical insurance. Taxes used to support other government health care programmes are counted as general revenue, which is attributed to government as a source.
How are funds from special taxes treated?
(See PG 11.16) If a special tax (such as a transaction tax) is earmarked for health care purposes –– even if it is levied on non-health activities such as bank transactions –– it should still be treated as though it were general revenue, because it is essentially fungible with general tax revenue. Thus, the recipient government programme is treated as the financing agent, and the government as the financing source (see paragraphs 4.22 and 4.23 of the Producers’ Guide). As with lotteries, if the special tax has policy significance it can be assigned its own subcategory within FS.1.1.