Wealth Tax Campaign
In a modern economy, taxes should help tackle inequality and build a fairer, greener society.
Yet today, it increasingly feels like not everyone is paying their fair share. Around the world, and here the UK, wealth is increasingly concentrated in the hands of the super-rich.
Lower rates of tax on wealth compared to income, alongside tax loopholes, mean the wealthiest often pay proportionally less. Meanwhile funding is scarce to tackle poverty, fund public services, and address the climate crisis.
That’s why support is growing for a fairer approach to taxing wealth.
Leading economists, think-tanks and international organisations including the OECD back the idea. Politicians and governments around the world are also increasingly considering wealth taxes, including the new UK Prime Minister. Andy Burnham has made clear that the “trickle-down economics” of the past 40 years has not delivered for everyone or every community, and he is not ruling out a wealth tax.
Research suggests a 2% tax on assets above £10m could raise up to £25bn a year to invest in health, housing, education and the transition to a green economy. Polling shows that the idea is consistently popular with the public, as well as the people most likely to pay the tax, millionaires.
We are calling on the Government to introduce a wealth tax on the country’s wealthiest individuals.
Join the growing call and contact your MP about a new UK wealth tax.
Email your MP
Email your MP urging them to support fairer wealth taxation and to raise this issue with the Chancellor. Click the button below to find and email your local MP.
I’m very pleased to see Church Action for Tax Justice calling for a wealth tax as a way of reducing the shocking levels of inequality in the UK. It is morally wrong that our economic system allows more and more wealth to accumulate in the hands of a few, while public services and standards of living decline. Excessive wealth is also driving climate breakdown, as billionaires tend to be responsible for thousands of times their fair share of carbon emissions. To build a peaceful and sustainable world, we must tackle extreme wealth.
Paul Parker
The pandemic and the stress of lockdown was a huge economic burden on ordinary people, not so for billionaires however, whose global wealth grew five trillion dollars in 12 months, largely due to government stimulus packages. With inflation now outstripping wage growth and real wages decreasing, the UK government have an obligation to tackle our society’s runaway wealth inequality. These bold provisions for a wealth tax from Church Action for Tax Justice would help redistribute the undue financial gains the super-rich made during the pandemic whilst simultaneously tackling the tax avoidance that has plagued the UK for decades.
Rt Revd Dr Alan Smith
Spiralling inequality is a major issue in our society, and all the evidence suggests that this is deeply damaging to our collective morale and trust. A wealth tax of the kind we are backing recognises that vastly disproportionate rewards for a very small number of citizens will not make for a cohesive and just national community. Contributing to the creation of a more cohesive and a more just system is not a “tax burden” but an opportunity to build a stable, sustainable economy that works for everyone.
Dr Rowan Williams
We need to close the loopholes used by the very wealthy to slash their tax bills. This campaign by Church Action for Tax Justice is incredibly timely – we need to mobilise people to back taxing wealth more.
Robert Palmer
You don’t have to be Christian to support fair taxation and support for our key workers who kept our country running during the pandemic. But surely fair taxation is inherent to loving your neighbour and supporting those less fortunate. I’m incredibly privileged to have wealth in excess of $5 million and along with other Patriotic Millionaires I call on our Government to tax the wealth of privileged people like us to help fund our NHS and social care. To tax our wealth in excess of $5 million instead of increasing National Insurance contributions on our key workers.
Julia Davies
Christian leaders regularly stand on stages advocating that people tithe or regularly give to support the work of the church. In some ways we pay for the privilege of being part of a functional, thriving community. There is less noise made about doing the same for our country through paying fair taxes. Let’s care more about what kind of society we are building than how nice a clubhouse we are building….