(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are their own.)

LONDON - So much for a post-pandemic outbreak of economic levelling up. Given that lockdowns to fight Covid-19 have made generational wealth divides even more entrenched, the hope was that states would use ploys like a wealth tax to ease their new debt burdens and pay for new spending plans. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s 36 billion pound tax hike to fund the UK health service and social care costs doesn’t do that.

Although borrowing costs are cheap and the United States has normalised spending trillions of dollars to reignite flagging economies, there’s nothing innately wrong with wanting to finance what are socially worthwhile areas of spending via taxation. But Johnson’s plan to raise taxes on both workers and employers by 1.25% respectively is a levy on labour, not wealth. At some point, younger generations could punish him for it at the ballot box. (By Aimee Donnellan)

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are their own.)

(Editing by George Hay and Karen Kwok) ((SIGN UP FOR BREAKINGVIEWS EMAIL ALERTS: http://bit.ly/BVsubscribe))