Today’s Budget saw the UK’s first female Chancellor introduce an historic Budget, in which she ushered in a long-overdue end to austerity, which has painfully exacerbated the cost of living crisis and brought public services to the brink of collapse.
We welcome reforms to the tax system to rebuild public services, where those who can afford to pay more are expected to do so. Whilst we still need to examine the details, the end of the non-dom regime, reforms to Inheritance Tax, increases in Capital Gains Tax, and some other increased taxes like those on carried interest, are particularly welcome. More taxes on wealth are a key tool for the Government to enable our society to flourish. Higher private jet passenger duty, meanwhile, is a good example of making the wealthiest, highest polluters, pay more.
These changes are a step in the right direction and will fund increased investment in schools and hospitals, housing and clean energy, extensions to the household support fund and rises in the minimum wage, as well as investment for future growth in the economy.
However, this isn’t quite the end to austerity we had hoped for, as inequality continues to soar, the poorest in society continue to face a welfare system that is not fit for purpose, and social care remains a huge challenge. Meanwhile growth for its own sake fails to recognise the enormous climate and nature crises that require a genuine transformation in the way our economy operates.
The Chancellor could have made more positive choices for the vulnerable and for nature. We continue to call for a Wealth Tax on all asset classes over £10 million, and for further increases in existing taxes on wealth like CGT, which could have led us further away from austerity and towards a greener, fairer society for all.
As people of faith, we are called to seek the welfare of the places where we live, to love our neighbours and to care for creation. Today’s set of tax reforms mean more people paying a fairer share towards reforming public services and growing the economy. But we need this Budget to be a first step towards to a bigger vision: one where taxes are a tool towards a fairer, greener society where each of us, and the natural world, can flourish.
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Notes to editors
- The JustMoney Movement (formerly The Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility) is an ecumenical Christian charity campaigning and educating around the just and fair use of money. Find out more www.justmoney.org.uk
- The JustMoney Movement is calling for changes to the tax system including the introduction of a 1-2% Wealth Tax on assets over £10 million, reforms to existing taxes, such as equalising capital gains with income tax rates, and ending some tax reliefs and loopholes. These changes combined could raise up in the region of £60 billion of revenue to tackle poverty, fund public services and address the climate crisis. Find out more https://justmoney.org.uk/speak-out/good-measure-campaign/