Party must engage on wealth

The TUC last month demanded an “end to the grotesque inequality of the Tory era” and renewed its call for a “national conversation on taxing wealth and windfalls” to help build a fairer society.

In an interview with the Morning Star newspaper, TUC general secretary Paul Nowak called on Labour “to engage with that national conversation with us about how can we tax wealth in this country”.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has said Labour in power would not impose a wealth tax. But new polling by Opinium for the TUC shows “significant cross-party support for increasing taxes on wealth and excess profits”.

Sixty-one percent of the public think wealthy people should pay more tax, including more than half (53%) of Conservative voters in the 2019 general election.

Only 4% think they should pay less tax. And almost three quarters (72%) of those surveyed think capital gains should be taxed at the same or higher rate than income tax — including 73% of 2019 Conservative voters.

There was also “huge support across the board for windfall taxes on excess profits”. Three-quarters of the public support a windfall tax on banks’ excess profits; 80% support this for energy companies; and 69% support such a tax on large online retailers’ excess profits.

Recent TUC analysis found a modest wealth tax on the richest 140,000 individuals, around 0.3% of the UK population, could deliver a £10.4 billion boost for the public purse.