Downing Street leaves door open to higher UK taxes on the wealthy

https://www.ft.com/content/3357384d-a04f-4f38-ac49-9770ce882a48

Posted by Consistent_Cold9822

22 comments

  1. Paywalled text: Downing Street has left open the door to higher taxes on the wealthy to close a growing UK fiscal hole, as the Treasury promised to “protect working people” in what is expected to be a painful autumn Budget.Number 10 on Monday declined to rule out tax increases on the rich after former Labour leader Lord Neil Kinnock said a new wealth tax could help fill the hole in the public finances.Kinnock has called for a 2 per cent tax on assets over £10mn, claiming it would [raise more than £10bn](https://archive.ph/o/Ps2Pq/https://news.sky.com/story/former-labour-leader-lord-kinnock-calls-for-wealth-tax-to-help-ailing-government-finances-13393515) a year.

    With chancellor Rachel Reeves under growing Labour pressure to increase taxes on the rich in her autumn Budget, a spokesman for Sir Keir Starmer said: “The prime minister has repeatedly said those with the broadest shoulders should carry the largest burden.”[Reeves](https://archive.ph/o/Ps2Pq/https://www.ft.com/rachel-reeves) is facing calls to raise taxes on the rich after the government’s £5bn retreat on welfare reform last week, despite the chancellor having ruled out a wealth levy on several occasions, including in April.

    Allies of Reeves said she was well aware of the risk of punishing wealth creators or driving rich people abroad, but her political options were narrowing.“We’re doing quite a lot to tax the wealthy,” one ally said. Reeves’ Budget last year raised levies on wealthy people in the UK who claim their domicile is overseas, as well as increased taxes on private jets, capital gains and private schools.

    The Treasury has little or no appetite for creating a new wealth tax, although government officials have not ruled out increasing the rates of existing taxes, which would affect the better off.“Tax decisions are taken at the Budget and, as you expect, we are not going to comment on tax speculation,” the Treasury said on Monday.“We have made our manifesto promises to protect working people and we took the decision last autumn to deliver the change the British people voted for.

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  4. It’s always the middle that get shat on… who cares if over the last 30 years there has been the biggest transfer of wealth from the working person to the mega rich, it’s the middle class that must pay. Perhaps an effective tax rate of 60% because the 51% just isn’t quite enough (including student loans which effectively work as a graduate tax) on anyone over £50k. You’re rich as soon as you hit that upper tax band…

  5. There is no recognition that the broadest shoulder already pay most of the tax. By far. Even if the premise accepted when will they start talking about reducing spend?

  6. I don’t meet the definition of the wealthy according to the article but I look forward to be screwed over by the tax changes later this year.

  7. Great, the “Labour” party, the party of the working people, will of course penalise the working people once again instead of the ultra wealthy.

  8. “Left the door open” sounds like they expect someone else to do it. Fucks sake, this is politics at its finest. Just tax those with more than £10m in assets, investments and cash. Hell, if it’s such an issue, make it £20m. No one, not one person, needs that much. Once you’ve paid off your house, you can live on the interest.

    Why the fuck do we glorify people who make money in investments and trading, when the people we should be lifting up are nurses, paramedics, carers, and teachers? (Yes, I’m leaving out doctors, police, and fire… they’re next on the list).

  9. I will never understand why people continue to accumulate assets long after they have amassed enough wealth to live comfortably without lifting a finger for the rest of their lives. It seems like greed bordering on mental illness and sociopathy.

  10. continue to steal from people that will save your sinking boat

  11. Carry on with penalising the middle class, and the current trajectory on immigration and you’ll be seeing Reform in power when the population vote “fuck you”.

  12. “Leaves door open” So it’s a maybe that is never going to happen. Probably go after people on the minimum wage next.

  13. Why even bother to work at all then? You can’t say “we need people working” to then raise taxes.

  14. More desperate labour moves to try and shore up support from the left.

    They’ve driven away amazing amount of wealthy people already and now want to finish the job…not cause it makes sense….but cause almost everything they have done has cleared a path for reform to be thr next government…and they see that they have lost the right vote…..the centre vote is collapsing so labour want to hang on to the remaining leftists….

    It’s nearly guaranteed that this won’t earn anything like the expected figures.

    It’s purely political

  15. Labour: Let’s spend less on benefits

    Public: Booooooo!

    Labour: ok well we’ll need more money from taxes

    public: Booooo!

    Labour : so you want to spend more but not bring more in?

    Reform: why not pretend I have a magic solution?

    Public: magic solution eh?

  17. Make it so that any money made in the UK is taxed before it leaves for ANY bank account. Will get those companies hard. You wanna sell your stuff here? Pay tax on your sales here.

  18. If they are actually going to tax the super wealthy billionaires, it’s a good thing.

  20. I’m in favour of a wealth tax…if they repealed income tax entirely. And stamp duty, and every other regressive tax that just stifles economic growth. It could be an incentive for capital to be invested more and realised less.

    Of course though that will never happen with a Labour government. They will instead continue subsidising the 50% that contribute sweet f*** all and gas light everyone else who dare speak up about it – the insidious rhetoric of socialism.

    The longer this goes on, the more people will make the calculation to roll the dice on Reform. Can’t say I blame them.

  21. Tax and spend and tax and spend and tax and spend is the Labour way

  22. Own a 3 bed semi north of the Watford gap: not rich

    Own a 3 bed semi in a lot of chunk of the SE and London: Rich

    Have a £50k a year public sector pension: not rich

    Have a £50k a year private pension: rich.

    This is just the usual spite we’ve come to expect from this government.

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