In the past the U.K. helped pay for wars by issuing War Bonds, the idea here is to help pay for Covid by issuing an NHS (or Covid) Bond, potentially for unlimited amounts. These would have a fixed period, say 5 years, during which time money could not be withdrawn without fairly severe penalty (say 10%). After the full term, interest at a moderate rate (eg 1%) would have accrued free of tax and the depositor could either withdraw some or all of the money or leave it to roll over for another term.
It is to be hoped that the U.K. economy will have recovered enough in the term period to ensure that repaying the bonds is not an issue, but, if further returns are required, there could be an option for the bonds to be excluded from a person’s estate so, should they die during the term, the money goes to the NHS.
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