What does a Budget for the 99.9% look like?

The UK is the sixth richest country in the world. So, why are our schools falling apart, our hospitals understaffed, and millions of people struggling to get by?

Because our wealth is being hoarded by the 0.1%. The 50 richest families in the UK now hold more wealth than half of the country combined. Right now, the economy is set up to grow their wealth, but stagnate our wages, to boost their profits by sending our bills soaring, to protect their interests whilst gutting our public services, and to ensure their businesses boom whilst our high streets die.

The Autumn Budget is our chance to change that — and it’s just 35 days away.

Thanks to huge public pressure, Rachel Reeves has finally admitted that taxing the wealthy must “be part of the story” in the upcoming budget. But let’s be real: it should be the main plot.

Wealth inequality is the rot at the heart of our country. It’s poisoning our democracy, strangling economic growth, and fuelling rising hate and division. While the rest of us struggle, billionaires and mega-corporations are robbing us blind.

We’ve had enough of working people being taxed more than those living off their extreme wealth. We’ve had enough of gambling magnates worth over £2 billion pretending their businesses are profitless and they can’t afford moderate taxes. 

We’ve had enough of billionaire banking CEOs using the UK to make a mint then cashing out tax-free in the UAE. We’ve had enough of mega-retailers turning over £billions, then magicking their tax bill into next to nothing. And we’ve had enough of  obscene tax breaks for big pharma to subsidise the development of drugs that are sold at such obscene prices, the NHS can’t afford them.

Here’s what a budget for the 99.9% looks like:

💸 Introducing a 2% wealth tax on the super-rich, and reforming Capital Gains Tax to close loopholes that make wealth pay more than work
⚖️ Cracking down on tax dodgers and introducing a settling-up tax
🌍 Ending subsidies for fossil fuel companies wrecking the planet and ripping us off
🖥️ Raising taxes on the tech giants
🏦 Taxing the banks’ excessive profits
🏘️ Applying National Insurance to investment income — so that landlords pay the same taxes as their tenants

Our 2% wealth tax would be paid by just the 0.04% richest people in the UK, and raise £24 billion to turn around our public services. Polling shows that even 85% of those that would pay the tax, support it. 

But a greedy minority would rather sit on their hoarded riches than pay back into the system and invest in our shared future. And they are desperate to distract us, threaten us and frighten us.

That’s why there’s wall to wall coverage of the super-rich threatening to leave, and scaremongering about immigrants (that account for less than 1% of public money spent and have a net positive economic benefit). And it’s why Elon Musk is funding legal fees for fascist rabble rousers, and fossil fuel companies are spending millions on lobbying, to meet with ministers more than 500 times this year. The only way to counter this is to raise our collective voice.

When it comes down to it, the vast majority of us want the same things: thriving communities, good jobs, safe homes and hope for the future. And we can have it, we just need a budget for the 99.9%, and not the greedy minority.