Read on for our current MP email action. Could you take your engagement further and meet with your MP? Read our detailed briefing and let us know how you get on!
The UK Budget on 30 October was disappointing in its approach to taxing wealth. The good news is that there are opportunities to push for further change at the international level. Two key ones during November are the UN Tax Convention, with negotiations taking place this month, and the G20 leaders’ summit meeting on 18-19 November in Brazil.
Will you write to your MP asking the Prime Minister to support bold international action on taxing wealth?
UN Convention
The forthcoming UN Convention on Tax will create a much-needed forum to develop major tax reforms like wealth taxes and global minimum standards. The UK has an opportunity to play a major role in the formulation of this Convention. The Convention will create an ongoing international forum for developing and agreeing binding policy. Negotiations are taking place during November and substantive policy discussion is due to begin in January 2025.
G20 summit
The G20 leaders’ summit in November will be one of the first moments on the international stage for Prime Minister Keir Starmer. From 18 to 19 November, G20 Leaders (a group of the world’s 20 largest economies that work to address major issues around the global economy) will meet in Brazil for their annual summit. On the agenda for the G20 talks is a proposal for addressing inequality in tax systems: a global common standard on the taxation of wealth. Heads of State have the opportunity to support the commitment to cooperate on how we tax Ultra High Net Worth Individuals, which was made by Finance Ministers in July.
We want to see the UK take international leadership and grasp these opportunities to tackle inequality and injustice in finance systems, both here and globally.
Co-ordinated international collaboration on tax could unlock billions to tackle poverty and climate change.
Transformation is urgently needed: inequality is soaring globally whilst current systems are failing to tax the wealthiest – including billionaires – effectively. For example, in the UK, those on the lowest 10% of incomes are estimated to pay an effective tax rate of 44% while those in the top 10% only pay 21%. At the same time there are nearly 4 million people in the UK who cannot afford the very basics in life such as food and warmth.
Unlocking more tax from the wealthiest could provide much needed revenue to help address this inequality and support those struggling financially. A fair tax system helps us to love our neighbours and care for those in poverty. Meanwhile, the climate crisis is ravaging our planet and tackling it requires huge sums, which again wealth taxes could help to provide. This would be in line with the polluter pays principle, as wealth is directly linked to climate emissions – 50 billionaires create more carbon in under three hours than the average Brit does in their entire lifetime.
We are calling for the UK to take global leadership on this issue by introducing its own wealth tax. The Government should also take a stand alongside other nations – including France, Spain and Belgium – by supporting international efforts to tax the super-wealthy, through the new Tax Convention at the UN and in discussions at the G20.
Taxing wealth fairly across the world could bring huge transformation, tackling global inequality and raising revenue that is desperately needed to tackle poverty and the climate crisis.
Take action by asking your MP to write to the Prime Minister to show leadership on wealth taxation at home and globally.