How much is this going to cost us?

[Babysharkdoodoodood]

And where is the money coming from?

We've been told for the last few years; cutbacks, austerity no money etc etc

So what's going to happen at the end? Is tax going to go to 40% for all? Is VAT going to go up? I can't do the sums?

It will be billions of pounds and thousands of lives, OP. A lot of the money will be from mass borrowing and increasing the national debt.
The years of austerity at least mean that we aren’t starting from an even higher base debt level. And since Brexit, we can use the money we used to have to pay into the EU - the UK was a net contributor.
If there are a lot of deaths among the frail elderly, there will be modest savings on future pension, NHS and social care bills (please be aware that I am simply observing a fact, not approving of elderly deaths - I’m a pensioner myself!)
We might cut our foreign aid budgets for a while, and we could save a fortune if we abandoned HS2!
The UK will not be alone in facing potential economic disaster- every country in the world will be struggling to come back from this.
But if the pandemic has had one tiny silver lining, it is the emergence of a “can do” mentality and energy, of people working together to innovate and problem solve.
One doctor commented “It used to take 11 committee meetings and 20 people just to move a door. Now we are setting up whole ITU’s in a fortnight!”
Let’s hope that appetite to get things done will remain after the virus is gone, and we can all rebuild our economy together. I also hope that low paid workers will keep their new employment rights, sick pay etc.

That's the thing that puzzles me. If every country is in debt, who to? I don't pretend to understand economics or fiscal stuff but if there is a debt, then there must be a creditor?

Can't the IMF just wipe the slate clean and and start everyone from scratch?

inheritance tax will fund some of it

Watching with interest, I'd very much like to read views/explanations from economists on this.

It will be a tax hike for everyone. Rishi alluded to it last night when he said clearly “we would all pay for it”

There is no such thing as a free lunch. When the government spends its ultimately always our money, even when they borrow it, it is ours, because we pay it back.

But yes, it looks like all our taxes will be increased to pay for it, and it will be billions. The quicker we are out of this, and folks get back to work. And aren’t being paid to sit home on eighty percent of their salaries, the lower our bill will be,

And it is, us, our bill, our taxes. No one else’s.

Bluntness thanks, I anticipate tax hikes too. However, isn't it important for people to have the money to spend and invest to keep the businesses going? How will this be balanced?

It is important they take these measures now, and yes it will be tax increase across the population to pay it back. Balancing it is what they are basically trying to do now, with the whole when to lock down, how far to lock down, who to lock down and for how long, when to lift etc.

That’s why people were told to go to work if they couldn’t work from home, even if non essential, because you can’t just keep paying for everyone to stay home. Every day people stay home, we pay for it, and we pay for it out of future tax increases, maybe even coupled with austerity measures.

The tax increases is pretty much a given, but balancing it is what they are attempting to do now.

I really don’t envy them the task. Every single one of us is having our future earnings mortgaged right now to pay for it.