sentences:  The tax came after 18 years of Conservative government, which had seen the privatization of many state-owned assets, at prices which many considered too low.It aimed to "put right the bad deal which customers and taxpayers got from the privatisation of the utilities".The tax produced an estimated one off income to the government of £5 billion, which was used to fund the New Deal, a welfare-to-work program that sought to tackle long-term unemployment, as well as providing capital investment for schools and the University for Industry (Learndirect).