“Tackling this social emergency must be the top priority.”
As the Autumn Budget gets closer, Labour MP Richard Burgon, is ramping up calls for a wealth tax. The MP for Leeds East contends how the richest are amassing even greater fortunes while millions struggle with soaring food prices, rising energy bills, and unaffordable housing costs.
In an open letter to Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, Burgon calls the cost-of-living crisis “the number one issue facing people across the country” and insists that “tackling this social emergency must be the top priority” in the Budget.
He and other signatories are urging the Chancellor to “tax wealth fairly and create a Social Emergency Fund — to deliver immediate support to ease the pressure on families.”
The letter describes how a 2 percent wealth tax on assets over £10 million would raise up to £24 billion a year, and how equalising capital gains tax with income tax would raise up to £12 billion a year. Additionally, “clamping down on tax loopholes and abuses that the super-rich and large corporations use to hoard their wealth,” would raise billions more.
Recent polls have shown there is widespread support for a wealth tax in Britain, with a majority of the public in the UK backing a tax on high-net-worth individuals. In September, a poll by the TUC, showed the public overwhelmingly back a package of taxes on wealth, bank and gambling companies to fund our public services and rebuild Britain.
In October, an Ipsos poll found 64 percent of adults would endorse the introduction of a wealth tax. It followed YouGov analysis which gauged 75 percent of the public are in favour of the measure.
The Green Party has also championed a wealth tax. Its leader, Zack Polanski, recently defended the policy as a way to “tackle the deep inequality in our society,” saying it is right to focus on the “super wealthy” when so many are “really struggling.”
The party’s general election manifesto proposed an annual tax of 1% on assets above £10 million and 2% on assets above £1 billion.
Despite mounting pressure from the left, Rachel Reeves has repeatedly ruled out a wealth tax, pointing to existing taxes on capital gains and inheritance.
But Burgon remains undeterred.
“It’s time for the government to act — to tax wealth in this Budget and establish a Social Emergency Fund to tackle the cost-of-living crisis without delay,” his letter concludes.
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