UK budget: Tax the wealthy to boost people and planet
The Labour government has been urged to use today’s budget to tax the super-rich and polluters to fund our green transition and lift people out of poverty.
Speaking ahead of today’s UK Budget statement, Scottish Green MSP Lorna Slater has called on the Chancellor to apply a wealth tax on the wealthiest 1% of households in the UK – those with assets worth £3.4 million and above.
Analysis from the University of Greenwich suggests that this tax would raise over £70 billion a year and potentially up to £130 billion.
Lorna said:
“For far too long the economy has been rigged in favour of the super wealthy and corporations who have been getting richer and richer while many people and families are struggling to pay their bills as costs keep soaring.
“There is more than enough money in the UK to ensure that nobody is forced to choose between heating their home or eating. The reason that nightmare choice exists for so many is because so much of that money is being hoarded by a handful of extremely wealthy people who wouldn’t be able to spend what they have in a thousand lifetimes.
“A fair tax system is crucial, but it must take into account the vast wealth that the super-rich hoard. That is why we must introduce a wealth tax, to make sure those who have benefited from a broken system are paying more to fund our public services and our transition away from fossil fuels.
“We have a huge opportunity to invest in green jobs and build a more equal country, but it is being squandered by a Labour government that is lurching from one crisis to another and refusing to deliver the change that people thought they were voting for.
“By choosing to tax the super wealthy the Chancellor could unto the cruel cuts we have seen and invest in creating good and sustainable jobs for the future. There is a better way to build a fairer, better society for people and planet, and it starts with taxing the super-rich.”