Labour minister leaves door open to tax for super-rich with 'fairness' vow
A cabinet member has left the door open for a wealth tax amid growing calls.
Heidi Alexander said Labour has not raised taxes on "modest" earners - but refused to rule out targeting the mega-rich. Ministers face demands to impose an annual tax of 2% on private wealth over £10million in the Autumn Budget - a move that could raise over £10billion a year.
Transport Secretary Ms Alexander said the move - advocated by former Labour leader Neil Kinnock - had not been "directly" discussed by the cabinet last week. But she said "fairness" would be the Government's guiding principal when it comes to taxes.
She told Sky News: "We made a commitment in our manifesto not to be putting up taxes on people on modest incomes, working people. We have stuck to that, we haven't put up income tax, we haven't put up VAT apart from taking away VAT tax breaks for people sending their children to private school and we haven't put up employees' national insurance."
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is widely expected to announce some taxes will go up when she delivers her Autumn Budget later this year. It follows the Government's welfare climbdown following a backbench rebellion, which wiped out £5billion of savings.
Unions and senior Labour figures have said a wealth tax must be considered rather than targeting the sick and disabled. Ms Alexander said: "So, the Chancellor will set her budget.
"I'm not going to sit in a TV studio today and speculate on what the contents of that budget might be. When it comes to taxation, fairness is going to be our guiding principle."
It comes after Wales's First Minister Eluned Morgan said a wealth tax is "not a bad idea" as Labour battles to balance the books. She told The Mirror last week: "I think that people with the broadest shoulders should carry more of the burden.'
Former Labour leader Lord Kinnock said a wealth tax would raise revenue and tackle the fact that "the same interests come out on top, unscathed all the time, while everybody else is paying more for gutted services".
Critics of a wealth tax claim it will cause an exodus of rich people. Tory Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told Sky News's Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: "That sounds to me like a barely disguised reference to tax rises coming in the autumn."
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