UK PM Johnson to hike taxes to pay for elderly and disabled care

London: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will on Tuesday set out a tax hike to pay for the soaring cost of caring for elderly and disabled people, a breach of election pledges that many in his party fear will expand the state at the expense of the young.

After splurging on the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnson is now trying to address Britain's creaking social care system, whose costs are projected to double as the population ages over the next two decades. Politicians have been trying for years to find a way to pay for social care, though successive British prime ministers have ducked the issue because they feared it would anger voters and trigger rebellions within their own parties.