WPB calls for a 5% one-off tax on fortunes exceeding £10m
The current economic crisis was not caused by the Covid-19 coronavirus, but that isn’t stopping big business from using it as a convenient scapegoat. Sign our petition for a corona tax on big fortunes!
The Workers Party of Britain recognises that the heroes of the crisis are those hit hardest by the economic disaster engulfing Britain. Applause for keyworkers and praise for the lowest paid in society is hollow if it’s not backed up by measures that can save jobs and families.
The top six richest people in the UK have an estimated combined wealth of £39.4bn. The richest one percent of people here own the same wealth as 80 percent of the country. [i]
It is estimated that the UK has 4,640 ‘ultra-high net worth individuals’, with personal wealth in excess of £80m each. [ii]
A one-off 5% tax on these individuals alone would see the richest 4,640 people in our society contribute more than £17 billion to the Treasury [iii] – money that could be spent on proper jobs, decent pay, renewed infrastructure, social housing and frontline healthcare.
This won’t fix all of workers’ problems, but it is clear that an immediate, short-term measure is needed if we are to protect huge numbers of workers from falling off a financial cliff-edge in the near future.
SEE ALSO: WPB calls for abolition of income tax for low-wage workers
Workers need a pay rise, jobs need to be retained, cuts to essential healthcare, social care, education provision and other social services needs to be reversed, and evictions and repossessions need to stop. Workers didn’t cause this crisis, and they shouldn’t be the ones to pay the price.
The rate at which inequality is rising is totally unacceptable – a few members of the super-rich elite are sitting on untold wealth, even as thousands of workers in Britain are being plunged into absolute poverty and destitution by unemployment and homelessness.
We’re calling on the Labour party, as the main party of opposition in Britain, to adopt this one-off tax as policy and to bring maximum pressure to bear – in Parliament, in councils and on the streets – to bring it about.
Sign our petition for an urgent corona tax on big fortunes!
NOTES
[i] Equality Trust, Billionaire Britain, December 2019.
[ii] Credit Suisse Research Institute, Global Wealth Report 2019.
[iii] Based on a GBP to USD exchange rate of 1.25.
“As official unemployment figures hit the three million mark, a tiny handful sit on a mountain of accumulated wealth. The top six richest people in the UK have an estimated combined wealth of £39.4 billion. The richest one percent of people here own the same wealth as 80 percent of the country. Our wealthiest 4,640 individuals are weighed down with the burden of carrying in excess of £80 million in their silk pockets.
“The time has come for urgent measures. We’re calling on Sir Keirs Starmer’s Labour party to adopt a Corona wealth tax. A one-off 5% tax on the wealth of those individuals who have more than £10 million in personal wealth. This urgent, unprecedented measure can help shore up the Treasury, save millions of jobs and key strategic industries. As the main opposition party in British politics, the labour movement must demand that the Labour party take action before it is too late.”
— George Galloway