Latest news with #TaxJusticeUK
The Guardian
27-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Fair taxation is about more than bashing the rich
You are right that wealth needs to be taxed more fairly (Editorial, 23 May), but the proposed solution from Tax Justice UK that you promote is too simplistic. Taxing assets above £10m sounds a nice way to restrict the pain to a very small number of people, hence its 78% support among the public. But the experience of other countries is that a wealth tax on the super-rich simply doesn't work (the IFS has many excellent articles on the subject). Wealth does need to be taxed more fairly, and equalising capital gains tax with income tax would be a good start – easy to administer and yielding significant revenues. Making council tax fairer would result in a massive redistribution of wealth. And middle-income earners – the biggest segment of taxpayers – will need to pay higher taxes. Only the first of these is politically straightforward – the other two would need a much greater consensus around solidarity and fair contribution than exists in Britain today, and politicians need to start laying the groundwork for that now if the tax system is to be made CraigLondon It is inarguable that Britain's economy has, as you say, become 'a machine for the upward redistribution of wealth' – a dynamic surely fuelling the fear-driven rightward drift of our politics. Yet contemporary surface trends alone cannot explain this volcano of discontent. A surprising amount of inequality remains rooted deep in mercenary medieval violence, bequeathing us a land ownership pattern that never seems to change. So, of course, as long as our public realm is threadbare, target the newly income-wealthy, but do not forget to tax the hoarders of these unearned historical assets (eg through land value tax). And never permit the affluent and privileged to criticise our struggling public services while arguing for tax cuts for their Brendan HillEdinburgh What is the purpose of a majority of British people being in favour of a wealth tax when too many non-productive UK billionaires dictate and control our trickle-up economy to their advantage? Is it ignorance, fear and cowardice that diverts the minds of too many parliamentary leaders and economists away from fairness and decency? Tax Justice UK is correct. A relatively modest wealth tax would enable practical moves towards equality, not least for students and staff in further and higher education. The government needs to give moral leadership, and here are policies for meaningful ways JonesEmeritus professor, Brunel University of London Your editorial ignores three factors: wealth is reinvested (alienate it and there is less to sustain our economy); inheritance and wealth taxes amount to double taxation (they are major disincentives to the wealth creation on which high-spending economies depend); in terms of the first tranche of taxation, that on income and in terms of 'who pays the bills', the top 1% pay 30% of income tax, the top 10%, 60% and the top 50%, 90%. Better public services depend on the encouragement of wealth creation, not its BiesterfieldEglingham, Northumberland The reason we have so many billionaires (and such an egregiously skewed distribution of wealth) is simply that our political parties depend on, and are beholden to, their billionaire MarksTring, Hertfordshire Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
Glasgow Times
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Glasgow Times
'Climate inaction will increase costs for Glasgow's households'
The smallest grassy patches can make a difference by providing food for bees and butterflies. Efforts to help improve local biodiversity and support the natural environment are more important than ever. To stop catastrophic climate change, we must take action to give nature the home it requires. We still need to support our nature reserves across the city. With high temperatures and the risk of water shortages, we have to protect wildlife habitats and extend nature networks in response to changing climate conditions. We are facing increasing threats from climate breakdown. The latest warnings on water scarcity show the urgent need to reduce our carbon emissions. We have to raise awareness about the current and future impacts of climate change on Scotland's water. It is important to acknowledge that climate change is a water crisis. We can feel the impact of changing weather through worsening floods, rising sea levels, wildfires and droughts. There is a need to reduce our water usage and support the adaptation of our water supply and wastewater services to help tackle the impacts of climate change. Climate inaction will increase costs for Glasgow's households and the economy unless big polluters are made to pay. Research by Global Witness has revealed that the costs of climate breakdown in the UK amount to an estimated £3,000 per household over the course of 2025. The cost of wildfires, flooding, crop losses, and droughts means higher bills for households, such as insurance and everyday essentials, warns Tax Justice UK. Unless polluters pay through a windfall tax, communities will be worse off and the super-rich will keep getting richer. The UK Climate Change Committee has published expert advice on what the Scottish Government must do to meet its ambitious 2045 net-zero targets. This committee is clear that the 2045 target is achievable, but only if the Scottish Government takes decisive and rapid action to reduce emissions from transport, home heating, and land use. Scottish Greens are also calling for the UK Government to listen to climate experts, take urgent action to fix the broken energy market, and end the artificial high price for clean green electricity, which is cheap to generate but expensive to consume. This comes following the publication of new monthly figures from the Office for National Statistics showing that inflation has jumped to 3.5 per cent in April, the highest level since February last year. Independent climate advisers have advised that the UK Government must act urgently to make electricity cheaper, through rebalancing prices to remove policy levies from electricity bills. We desperately need to fix the broken energy market that is plunging people into poverty all the while keeping our reliance on climate-wrecking fossil fuels. We're in a climate emergency. We need significant effort to be made to switch our homes to clean heat, and to protect our city from catastrophic damage. Delaying climate action actually costs a lot more in the long run.
The National
21-04-2025
- Business
- The National
Anas Sarwar rules out Scottish Labour backing 'wrong' wealth tax
In an interview with Martin Roche on the Glasgow local Glad Radio, the Scottish Labour leader refused to support proposals for a tax on wealth which campaigners say would help to level the playing field in a society which has become more and more unequal. Tax Justice UK has proposed a 2% annual tax on assets above £10 million, which they said would affect 0.04% of the UK population and raise £24 billion a year. Last month, various Labour MPs spoke in support of a wealth tax, saying the proposals were preferable to the £5bn in annual cuts to disability benefits outlined by the UK Labour Government. READ MORE: Tommy Sheppard: Shift tax focus from income to wealth to see real change Kim Johnson, the Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside, said: 'You cannot cut your way to growth. A wealth tax of 2% on assets over £10m would raise £24bn per year. 'When the government talks about 'tough choices' – why is this choice never on the table?' Speaking to Sarwar for Glad Radio, Roche raised similar concerns. 'An issue of inequality and growing financial inequality…,' he said, only for Sarwar to interrupt: 'Economic insecurity, financial inequality, social inequality, absolutely.' (Image: PA) Roche then went on: 'What I could afford in buying a house 40 years ago, my children who are in their 20s and early 30s now find it tremendously difficult, and it's a common problem in many parts of the world, but it's a particularly common problem here. 'Many of the arguments, of course, are that the rich have sucked up vast sums of wealth from around the world, and those in the middle and those at the bottom are now finding things that were accepted to be normal, unaffordable, but yet Labour refuses to introduce a wealth tax.' Roche said it was 'difficult to reconcile' a lot of what Sarwar had been saying about financial inequalities with Labour's refusal to countenance a wealth tax. The Scottish Labour leader responded: 'I think you've identified the right problem, and the right feeling after a solution is found, but I think it's the wrong solution.' READ MORE: UK facing 'unprecedented' politics as Reform UK top polls, John Curtice says 'Taxing the rich is the wrong solution?' Roche asked. Sarwar replied: 'No, no, no, no. I, because I think you've oversimplified it. So if you look at the last budget, so I'm all for progressive taxation. I believe in progressive taxation. 'If you look at the last budget, for all the criticism people make of Rachel Reeves's budget, it actually was the most redistributive budget in probably two decades, if you look at who got the most and who paid the most. 'But what has not yet creeped through into people's lives is how it impacts them in terms of the cost of living crisis, how it feels in terms of their own level of security or insecurity, and how it, what it means for their communities and their children.' Sarwar said there was 'a generational promise that's currently being broken' and that Scottish parents were no longer able to guarantee that their children would have better life opportunities than they did. He insisted that 'how you sort that is not a 'you're in government for nine months, you've got the magic potion and the magic portion is delivered and everything is fine''. Sarwar went on: 'It takes time, it takes difficult decisions, and I think this UK Labour Government is making many right decisions and is putting us in a firmer direction, but there is still work to do, and there's loads of work to do in Scotland.' Elsewhere on the radio interview, Sarwar was asked about recent polling which has found a major lead for Yes – and questioned on why support for the Union is not 'solid' after Labour's sweeping General Election victory in 2024. Sarwar said he had some 'serious questions about that poll, but it's for pollsters and pundits and commentators to talk about that'. READ MORE: Richard Murphy: Here's where we'll have a head start after a Yes vote He went on: 'I've not focused for the last four years on opinion polls, I've focused on winning. People may remember that when I took on this job four years ago, we were 32 points behind the SNP. 'No one gave us a hope in hell of beating the SNP in the General Election last year, let alone having a Labour government. 'Not only did we beat them, we beat them decisively and I'm confident we'll do the same again next year, but we've got to do the hard work and earn people's trust and earn their support and continue to re-earn their trust and re-earn their support.'
The Guardian
24-03-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
What Rachel Reeves can do to raise money instead of cutting public services
Your report says Rachel Reeves 'has few options left' (How did it come to this? Labour's journey from landslide victory to 'deep unhappiness', 22 March), but in fact she has numerous options. Patriotic Millionaires, alongside Tax Justice UK, has proposed 10 tax reforms to raise £60bn for public services. And on 18 March, it told MPs that a tax of 2% on wealth above £10m could raise £460m a week for our country's crumbling finances. Prof Richard Murphy has identified at least seven alternatives for Reeves, saying that to pretend the only options are higher taxes or austerity is wrong. And Prof Helen Goodman (Letters, 21 March) even identifies around £35bn in savings from three simple taxation reforms. Both Reeves and Keir Starmer cite morality to justify their cuts. But where's the morality or justice when the UK has the highest proportion of billionaire wealth derived from monopolies and cronyism among G7 countries and UK billionaires saw their collective wealth increase last year by £35m a day to £182bn as four new billionaires were created, taking the total to 57, and the queues for food banks continue to grow? Unequal societies, the IMF and OECD have found, grow more slowly than more equal nations, and social mobility collapses in countries riddled with inequality. Tax reform can address inequality, so is better for growth, and it will raise the money that Reeves says Britain needs. What's stopping her?David MurrayWallington, London Despite what the chancellor might think, the Office for Budget Responsibility's updated forecasts do not provide her with 'ammunition to justify the welfare cuts', especially when she has other options (Reeves under pressure as UK borrowing sharply exceeds forecasts, 21 March). Rejecting a wealth tax because it is easy for the rich to move their assets offshore is simply another attempt to deflect attention from this government's outright refusal to tackle inequality. Reminding MPs about Liz Truss's disastrous fiscal statement and that it was working people who paid the price is also shameful. That mini-budget focused on reducing taxes and increasing borrowing, neither of which is necessary in this week's spring statement. Does the country want to hear about hedge fund managers celebrating again after Rachel Reeves's fiscal announcements, as they did last October? At the very least, capital gains and income tax should be equalised, tax loopholes enjoyed by limited liability partnerships closed, and uncollected billions from loopholes targeted. Labour MPs must not accept any cuts. Have they not read about families being worse off in 2030 or modern economists discrediting trickle-down economics, or even seen the polls? They are sleepwalking into disaster, which will start in Runcorn and EvansLiverpool I read John Harris's account of shadowing a personal care provider in Bury (Opinion, 23 March) with tears in my eyes for the 93-year-old woman who stands to lose her daily care visit if, or when, the care agency is forced to withdraw its services for lack of funding. The tears are still flowing, but now they're prompted by anger at the assertion, in an editorial on the same day, that Rachel Reeves is making 'enthusiastic noises' about substantial help in funding Manchester United's new stadium, 15 miles from the woman whose negligible human contact looks set to be a casualty of spending Atkinson London Do you have a photograph you'd like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers' best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.
