Stephen Kinsella is part of the Patriotic Millionaires UK network, who were in the city today ahead of Rachel Reeves’ Budget later this month
The Patriotic Millionaires campaign bus in Liverpool.(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
A millionaire whose family come from Liverpool has told Chancellor Rachel Reeves that he and other wealthy people should be taxed at a higher rate in her crucial upcoming budget announcement.
Stephen Kinsella is part of the Patriotic Millionaires UK network, which is a collective of British millionaires from a range of different industries and backgrounds around the country. The group says it works to build a better Britain by changing the system to end extreme wealth and make those who have it make a fair contribution.
Ahead of the Chancellor’s hugely-anticipated Budget later this month, the Patriotic Millionaires bus arrived in Liverpool with a clear message: “Tax us, the super-rich.”
The bus parked up in Liverpool city centre today next to the Royal Liver Building, to encourage as many people as possible to back the call for the Chancellor to tax wealth, not work, when she delivers her budget on November 26.
The tour comes as research from Patriotic Millionaires reveals that since 2020 at least one local public service or facility has been shut down every three days because of budget cuts.
Patriotic Millionaires UK submitted Freedom of Information requests to councils across the UK to better understand how austerity and funding gaps are costing towns important local services like swimming pools, libraries and youth centres.
They said their findings show that since 2020 the UK has seen an average closure of three children’s centres, two sports and activity centres, and two youth or other community support centres close every month.
The Patriotic Millionaires campaign bus in Liverpool.(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
Stephen Kinsella, a legal consultant and member of Patriotic Millionaires, said: “My family are from Liverpool and I benefitted from public investment – from living in state housing and working in the NHS to getting a full grant to go to university.
“I’m more than happy to now pay more back into the society that enabled me to have a good career and a good life.
“Our communities still need investment and that money should come from the super-rich – millionaires like us who have benefited from all the good things this country has offered us. Rather than squeeze hardworking families and small to medium-sized businesses even more, the Chancellor should put more of the burden on the wealthiest. We can afford it.”
Latest figures from Government show that 20 neighbourhoods in Liverpool are classed as highly deprived.
Just over 53% of children in the Liverpool Council local authority area are living in income deprived households, and almost a third of older people in the area are too (32.6%).
Patriotic Millionaires UK are calling for the government to support two key policy changes to raise £36 billion a year:
- Raise much-needed revenue now by reforming Capital Gains Tax, so that high returns to capital are taxed on the same basis as income from work. This reform could raise £12 billion a year.
- Tackle wealth inequality in the long term by committing to a 2% wealth tax on assets over £10m during this Parliament – creating space, over time, to reduce reliance on taxing ordinary people. A 2% wealth tax could raise £24 billion a year.
Phil White, engineer, consultant, and member of Patriotic Millionaires UK, said: “Across the UK people are losing out, not just in their own pockets but in the communities pockets too.
“Our countries are getting poorer because we’ve been too slow to tackle the root causes of our ailing economy. Our shared public wealth hasn’t disappeared, it’s just made its way to the mega-wealthy where it has become less and less productive, at the expense of the country and everyone else. As this growing inequality thrives our much-needed frontline services get cut because budgets don’t stretch far enough – but it doesn’t need to be this way.
“For too long we’ve been told that wealth trickles down and improves the lives of everyone – this is simply not true.
“Millionaires like myself and the vast majority of the public agree that it’s time we created an economy that works for everyone, not just a wealthy few, and demand a better, fairer tax system. Our country and its people deserve a brighter, thriving, and hopeful future. We hope the Chancellor will begin to deliver this by taxing the super rich.”