Death Tax. ... Say whaaa?

Apparently it took a little while for Andy Burnham, the British health secretary, to rule out a death tax.

Drop dead. "Oh, that's five pounds, six shillings and thrupence ha'penny, please."

I can see it now:

Minister: We need more money!

Civil Servant: How about a tax on living?

Minister: We do that, already! We're Labour, remember?

CS: Sorry, the Tories do it, too!

M: Yeah, sorry.

...

M: We still need more tax revenues

Junior Civil Servant: Why not tax hospital stays?

CS: We do that, already.

JCS: How about taxing you because you're alive?

M: We try very hard to not tell anyone we do that already

JCS: Sorry

...

JCS: How about taxing dead people?

CS: Hmm. Has potential. They complain about the tax burden.

M: They don't vote, either.

...

CS (Used to be JCS): The rate of taxation should be index-linked

Senior CS (used to CS): Yes, with a factor for the cost of living included

M (hoping to be next PM): Brilliant!

And so the dead became taxed.

On the other hand, it helped Britain become the healthiest nation on the planet.

Carolyn Ann