Let’s be Fair – Tax the richest
Sarah Rees, Head of Oxfam Cymru
Polling by YouGov, on behalf of Oxfam, released this week, shows that over three-quarters of Britain’s population would rather increase taxes on the richest than see cuts to public spending.
There is also overwhelming support across Wales, Scotland and England for raising a 2% tax on those with assets over £10M. A tax that would raise around £24Bn and do away with the need for punitive cuts to social security.
Cuts that undermine the safety net for all of us not just the most vulnerable in society.
The UK Government is making a choice to cut support for people living with illness and disabilities, rather than look to those who can most afford to contribute. Making this choice defies the opinion of the vast majority of the UK population.
This is the choice being made in the UK today. Research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows that over the coming years those with the least wealth will be the hardest hit by this UK government’s choices. Suffering twice as much as middle- and higher-income parts of the population in relative terms.
What of Wales?
A Wales specific poll, commissioned from YouGov by Oxfam Cymru, shows that 78% would rather the UK Government increase taxes on the very richest to improve public finances than see cuts to public spending; 79% support introducing a 2 per cent wealth tax on net assets worth more than £10 million; and 72% think that the very richest people in the UK should pay more in tax.
More people in Wales believe that the richest should pay more tax than in any other part of the UK.
The announced spending cuts will hit Welsh communities hard, where poverty rates are higher than much of the UK. With an aging population and greater health challenges, Wales faces a double burden—and a double blow.
Meanwhile, having the same party in power at both ends of the M4 is yet to show improvements to the lives of people living in Wales. Instead of pushing back against their Westminster counterpart’s harmful policies, Welsh Government seems reluctant to challenge these deplorable political choices —even as 92% of Labour supporters back a wealth tax.
Another Way?
There are always other choices.
At Oxfam Cymru we believe there are different choices to be made, choices that can lead us to a better, fairer, future.
Today, inequality is rife; climate change and ecological destruction continues along a dangerous and untenable path; the undervaluing of our care economy pushes women deeper into time and income poverty; hunger and food insecurity are on the rise; and, globally, violent conflict is increasing.
The world is shifting dramatically and there is no better time than today for the mainstream to consider radical alternatives to drive a better, fairer future for all, to build an economy that works for everyone.
Cutting social security is unjust, short-sighted and harmful, it deepens inequality, harms the most vulnerable in society, and stores up challenges and problems for future generations.
New analysis by Oxfam, Patriotic Millionaires UK, and Tax Justice UK, finds that the wealth of all UK billionaires soared by £11 billion last year. A sum coincidentally equal to that which the UK Government has recently cut from its international aid and social security budgets combined.
Meanwhile, here in Wales, Welsh Government seem stuck in a cycle of reactive ‘firefighting’ measures, rather than shifting their focus to prevention and long-term solutions.
In part this is due to the majority of our budget being spent on public services, leaving a limited amount to invest in improving wellbeing, building resilience, and tackling poverty and inequality. A cyclical problem which our government in Wales must seize and solve in order to break free from our excessive reliance on public services and their ever-rising cost.
Why?
It is difficult to understand why the UK government has chosen to push more people into poverty and hardship rather than tax the rich – there has been precious little explanation, with the idea that the wealthiest are already ‘doing their fair share’ ringing hollow as their wealth grows ever larger and ever faster in comparison to everyone else.
For context, on average every UK billionaire’s wealth increased by over £30m per day last year.
Our own First Minister, Eluned Morgan, needs a reminder of her calls to establish ‘a permanent Poverty and Inequality Commission to help set a long-term direction and suggest practical solutions for tackling poverty in Wales’.
This is what we need. At UK level and in Wales, long-term planning and solutions that address and reverse the inexorable growth in poverty experienced across our nation.
Oxfam Cymru is calling for a Wales-wide anti-poverty strategy and looks to all political parties to adopt this as a manifesto commitment as we approach the 2026 Senedd elections.
Time to step up
It’s time to tax the wealthiest so that we can fix our broken social security system and build an economy that works for everyone. Reducing poverty and inequality benefits everyone – fairness must guide our long-term future.
We need a well-being economy that cares for people and planet, creating a sustainable world in which everyone can thrive and survive.
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
This Place’s daily business begins after prayers I believe, well that be-sandalled hirsute charmer Jesus would bang a few heads together because Labour is so far adrift from Christian teachings they must have done a deal with the Devil on the corner of Leadenhall St and the A10…
Bad things happen in that square mile…
Tax the rich!!!! The rich have accountants that have found ways for them to avoid paying any taxes. Only the working classes pay tax.
This is not true. The top 1% of earners take a 13% share of total income, yet pay 30% of income tax. The top 10% take 34% of total income, yet pay 61% of income tax. You don’t need many of these people to leave the country before the poor are forced to pay more tax.
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8513/
Let’s stop bashing the rich and show some gratitude for the amount of tax they pay, the amount of jobs they create and the amount of money they spend (which supports more jobs and generates more tax).
Why are you only considering income tax? VAT, NI and duties should be included in this fairness calculation.
Because, if you follow the link I provided in my earlier post, income tax is by far the biggest contributor to the treasury. But high earners are high spenders too, so they will also be paying more VAT and duty, they also live in big houses, so they’ll be paying more council tax, many of them got wealthy by building a business, so they will have contributed corporation tax and probably capital gains tax.
There is no doubt that the rich pay a lot of tax!
Not as a proportion of income. Low earners will be paying a far greater share of their income on VAT and fuel duty, for example.
Don’t drop a dose reality in this forum! A good example of dodging taxes is moving assets to companies whose shares aren’t traded, for example such as MSs do on holiday homes!. So valuation is difficult if you apply a wealth tax this this wealth. You would need regional tax bands as well unless you excluded property (which would otherwise become the next tax dodge!). Anyway it’s complicated and will take 5 years to introduce. Public finances need fixing now Its challenging period and public finances will take a parliament to recover. I’m sure at some stage income and/or vat… Read more »
It’s not reality if it only considers one of many taxes. It’s actually gaslighting.
As explained in my previous post, if you consider the totality of tax, the story doesn’t change.
Businesses and rich people want to live in the UK because we are a stable society. That stability is threatened, even here, when inequality and poverty reach a tipping point. We are on that path with increasing inequality, poverty and a collapsing infrastructure. The reduction of inequality and investment in infrastructure are in the interests of the rich too
The IFS said last week “No country in the world has ever successfully had a wealth tax that has raised serious money”. This is a fact, not an opinion.
What we don’t need is yet another strategy, yet another committee or commission nor the meaningless “well being” economy. What we do need is a realistic debate around an affordable state (not a big one or a small one) which provides support for the most vulnerable, rather than the unadulterated welfarism practiced here in Wales. It simply doesn’t work.
You are absolutely right, a wealth tax will only succeed in encouraging wealth to go and live somewhere else. Those with more than £10 million tend to be mobile. The banks in our Celtic neighbours (Manx) have reported that they opened three times more accounts in the second half of 2024 than they would expect to in a normal year – the money is already fleeing the country. Other reports show that the UK is second only to China in the number of billionaires leaving the country. Anybody with half a brain can work out that a wealth tax is more likely to… Read more »
Will that debate include that fact that the UK doesn’t have a social security spending problem?
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/social-spending-oecd-longrun?tab=table
And in picture format, for your convenience:
Interesting data on the Netherlands, it is where I live, and, despite spending far less (in GDP terms, though GDP per capita is some 20% higher) benefits are far higher, on a disability benefit I get about 200 quid a week AFTER rent, power, health, internet, phone, local tax, water, phone bills, scootmobile (sounds much better than ‘mobility scooter’), and home help (TBF this one is an issue as they can’t get enough PPL to do the work)… If I still lived in the UK I would be completely screwed, current UK benefit rates are so bad I really have… Read more »
Good comment Rob. That suggests to me that the Dutch are far more efficient at distributing the benefits to recipients. There’s a black hole within the UK system and it’s not that hole that Rachel favours in her doom mongering, but one that creates costs while adding no value whatsoever.
It certainly should; but saying that we spend a smaller share of GDP relative to others isn’t the same as saying as we don’t have a problem.
How do you define the problem?
Nearly 40% of GDP on tax revenues by the end of the decade. Unsustainable.
And how much of that is state pension benefits? That’s what is unsustainable without more workers to pay for the exploding population of old people.
Spot on. And it’ll take 5 years to set up. Public finances are a problem in the here and now
Two quick wins: stop paying state pension benefits to millionaires, and remove the NI discount enjoyed by those on salaries over £50k.
…and watch the law-suits fly. People have paid national insurance on the clear understanding it would pay them a pension. For many people, for most of their working lives, paying NI was not optional. But some, mostly older women, were encouraged by to make voluntary NI contributions to maintain their pension entitlement. Take away the pension they have paid for and you can expect to see the government waste an awful lot of money defending themselves in court. Your second point may have more merit, but only if your first point is excluded – it would be outrageous to demand… Read more »
Everyone else understands what the word insurance means. It only pays out if you need it.
A better bet would be to sharply reduce the Motorbility scheme. Why should claimants get a new top of the range BMW or Audi every three years with MOT and servicing thrown in?
The scam on cars is well known yet no one within the Benefits system has seen fit to address it.
78% of people said they would like somebody else to pay more tax. It’s hardly news!
No doubt all socialists, they love spending other peoples money.
In that case why don’t you campaign for the Private Sector to run the armed forces and Police. Then go much further and why not have Private Sector toll gates on every road.
That’s a key point. If those fixated by near universal benefits really had the courage of their convictions, they would use tax varying powers in Wales to fund it. They won’t of course – particularly a year out from the election- because they know it’s deeply unpopular. Far easier to blame the Tories, Trump or the weather.
But Wales doesn’t have the power to vary NI which is supposed to fund benefits.
Money is money. Income tax is about 28% of government revenue I believe. NI and VAT about 18% each. My point is about accountability. It’s easy to make speeches and ask someone else to pick up the tab. A hallmark of the Senedd sadly.
But what about the union deal? For decades there’s been a gentleman’s agreement that lets Westminster arrange the economy to enrich London at the expense of everyone else. In return enough crumbs are assigned to the regions and nations to keep Bob Geldof at bay. If you want the regions and nations to pay their own way (which, by the way, would make the UK richer over all) we need to revisit London’s dominance.
One can quite easily make apply the same argument to Cardiff and the rest of Wales.
Not if you care about facts.
GDP per capita, 2018:
Inner London West – £188,900
UK – £32,300
Wales – £23,866
Cardiff Capital Region – £24,816
See the difference?
I would accept that the disparity between London and the UK is probably wider; but Cardiff is not the same as its Capital Region,. The latter includes all the Valleys east of Maesteg. That is not the right comparator.
Charge a wealth tax and watch the rich leave and/or put their asset ownership overseas.
A wealth tax isn’t the answer. Just have the wealthy pay the same proportion of their income as everyone else. Start by abolishing CGT, IHT and dividend tax, and tax these sources of income as income. Abolish carrying forward losses to offset against future tax. Treat loans as income if not repaid within 3 years. Simplify and level the playing field.
…and by the same logic you would remove higher rate and additional rate income tax?
I would raise the personal allowance so an average earner doesn’t lose out (and not take it away for high earners) then apply one income tax rate of 33%. What could be fairer to billionaires than that?
Every party seems to have moralistic, good intentions before gaining power and then revert to the usual Westminster ways once that power is gained. Do the rich have some sort of strangle hold over politicians? Probably yes, plus the fact many politicians then find themselves in the richer section of society themselves – there wouldn’t be a great incentive to tax themselves more, would there. I may be exaggerating but I suspect not. The system is broken and needs major reform.
Iesu mawr, where did all of these forelock-tuggers spring from all of a sudden? Poor, poor billionaires
I agree, it must be a very hard life being a billionaire
Nobody on this forum, so far as I can tell, have claimed billionaires have a hard life. What several of us have done is point out the simple fact that increasing taxes on the rich is likely to reduce tax-take not increase it. It is a simple concept which nobody on here has doubted or constructed a coherent argument to oppose.
Along with the “victims” perhaps.