I still think that is just labelling. I'll give you an example. Let's say you have a mortgage to pay that is X, you receive a salary and you have to pay X out of your salary to cover the mortgage. Now let's say that your employer tells you that Z of your salary is meant to pay for your mortgage and you cannot spend it on anything else and he or she gives you Z in a separate envelope. The you go home and mix all the money and pay X. Is there going to be a difference? If Z was lower than X, you would use the rest of salary to cover it. The NI is not truly ring-fenced, so it really is just a matter of label. If there is not enough NI to fund NIF, then it would come from other sources.
Only difference I can see is that NI contributions register your entitlement to benefits.
I would agree with you if NIF couldn't be funded by anything else than NI.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
