As with most of these massive issues, politicians just stick their heads in the sand and hope they don't have to deal with it. We look at all these things the wrong way around. We decide how much to tax and then work out what we need to spend it on, any sensible person or organisation would do it the other way around. British people decide what they want to provide, then the government tells us how much that would cost. Unfortunately we are well past the point where politicians bother to tell the truth.