Why is ALS so underfunded? Why no £10 tax on 10m highest earners, say?

[FlexyWex101]

I appreciate this may be a stupid question, but why is ALS so underfunded, and why have options that could guarantee funding for years, such as a small, specific tax on higher earners, not been instituted by government? We know that ALS is a terrible disease, rare though not rare enough, that absolutely devastates lives, but which is severely underfunded and hence has little to no treatment options. Virtually every person in the UK could spare £10 a year, probably £100, certainly the top 10 million or so highest earners could. So why is there no pressure on politicians, and why aren't politicians themselves taking the initiative, to introduce new taxes to fund research? A top ALS researcher recently said that with £100 million a year there would almost certainly be a cure within 30-40 years, and many believe much sooner. This could be accomplished with a £10 selective ALS tax, with no public pain or sacrifice. So I just can't understand why it hasn't been done.

[MNDConnect]

Dear FlexyWex101,

Thank you for your question which we put to our policy team. Below is their response


Spending levels and tax policies are set by the Government, and that we agree MND research spending levels need to increase and we are working hard to make that case to government.


There’s been recent success around research funding in other ways, with the United to End MND Campaign, achieving a commitment of an additional £50 million of dedicated funding for MND research, and we aim to build on that to further improve the environment for MND research. On a final note, we do have a good relationship with lots of MPs and MND research is usually one of their top interests.

We hope this answers your question, but please do come back to us if you have any further questions.

With kind regards
Jacqui Anderson
Senior MND Connect Adviser