2025 could be a huge year for tax justice.
Last year we successfully pushed the government to tax wealth more – at the Budget in November Rachel Reeves increased taxes on wealth and closed loopholes exploited by the super rich.
The government implemented in full, or partially, four of the ten tax reform proposals we’ve been pushing for.
At the same time the Chancellor ducked introducing a proper wealth tax and instead increased taxes on employment.
There’s still much more to do, and this year we think we can push the government to go further – with your help.
We all know the country is crying out for more public investment – the NHS, schools and other services all need more funding. This government was elected on a mandate to fix these services.
Letting these services get worse, or even cutting money from them would be a very bad idea for the country, as many commentators have pointed out this week.
In a tight corner
The government is in a difficult position financially right now. Over the last week, the cost of government borrowing has risen sharply, meaning the UK has to pay more interest on its debt.
In response, Keir Starmer said the Treasury will be “ruthless” when it comes to public spending which sounds like it could spell a fresh wave of spending cuts.
This would be the wrong approach. Cutting public services to the bone will hurt people who are already struggling, and it won’t help long-term economic growth.
The bedrock of a thriving economy and society are well funded schools, health services, infrastructure and emergency services.
The government must find ways to fund these things, rather than looking to cut their funding.
How can they raise more?
The government could tax the UK’s richest people more.
Our country is home to some very wealthy people who should be asked to pay more into a system they benefit from.
I’m talking about people with millions, tens of millions and even billions of pounds; people who earn hundreds of times more than the average person.
For example, if the UK introduced an annual 2% wealth tax on fortunes over £10 million, up to £24 billion could be raised every year.
Or if the government taxed income from wealth the same as it taxes income from work, £14 billion a year extra could be raised. This would be by making capital gains rates the same as income tax rates.
We’ve been campaigning for these and other similar tax reform policies week-in, week-out for years.
Spending cuts won’t work
Politics is about choices. The government has two options right now: introduce a new wave of austerity on public services – and see the UK continue to decline and their mandate ruined.
Or, they could ask those with the broadest shoulders to pay more – and kick start the renewal of our country and public services.
We will continue pushing the government to pick the second option.
Making them listen
We will have many opportunities this year to make the government listen to our tax reform arguments. We’ll need your help.
In March we’ll get an update on the government finances – which are looking pretty tight.
Big decisions may be made by the government on how much money to put into different public services at the spending review in June and of course there will be another Budget in the autumn, where Rachel Reeves will update her overall tax and spending plans.
We’ll be campaigning, lobbying and making our voice heard in the media at all of these moments: demonstrating to the government that alternatives to spending cuts are on the table. We’ll also be asking you to get involved in this campaigning.
End tax havens
Our focus will also be on work that has an international focus. We will continue supporting efforts to implement a UN Tax Convention – this will help reduce tax abuse globally.
And we will continue building the pressure for the implementation of publicly accessible registers of beneficial ownership in the British Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories. These will help increase financial transparency.
We showed at last year’s autumn Budget that the government can be pushed to tax the wealthy more to fund desperately needed investment – this year we’ll pushing them to go further.