A group of 100 wealthy people have said taxing them would help tackle the gulf between rich and poor.
They revealed that the tax system is rigged in their favour (we think we knew that) and needs a complete rewrite, to restore trust in governments and create a fairer system for hard-working people.
In an open letter they said: “As millionaires, we know that the current tax system is not fair. Most of us can say that, while the world has gone through an immense amount of suffering in the last two years, we have actually seen our wealth rise during the pandemic – yet few if any of us can honestly say that we pay our fair share in taxes.”
The signatories want to see the introduction of permanent wealth taxes on the richest to help reduce extreme inequality and raise revenue for sustained long-term increases in public services like healthcare.
The group are suggesting a wealth tax on those with more than $5 million (£3.7 million), which they said would raise more than $2.52 trillion. A tax of 2% would be raised on those with more than $5m, rising to 3% for those with more than £50m, and 5% for billionaires!
Analysis have worked out that such a tax on the UK’s wealthiest 20,000 people would raise £43.7 billion.
