Where’s all the money gone?

Most of this money has gone to profiteering big business and big banks. The same inflation that has caused a cost-of-living crisis for the rest of us, has seen the big four UK banks (Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, and NatWest) make record profits in 2024 — raking in £45.9 billion between them.

Our friends at Positive Money are calling on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to introduce a windfall tax on big bank profits to support the households that need it the most. Will you join them?

Everyone’s talking about taxes

Taxes are right back to the top of the political agenda after last week’s Comprehensive Spending Review. We welcomed announcements of new public spending and investment.

This money will go some way to restoring funding and investment in our public services such as healthcare, transport and housing, which have crumbled as a result of more than a decade of brutal austerity.

Now the conversation has turned to how we pay for these necessary investments. Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride told the press that the “Spending Review has all but confirmed what many feared: more taxes are coming.”

But the public isn’t scared of tax rises, so long as they target those who can afford them— the super-rich and massive corporations raking in big profits.

Recent YouGov’s polling for Oxfam showed 77% of us would rather the UK Government increase taxes on the very richest than see cuts to public spending. This reporting in the independent demonstrated much the same.

It’s time that billionaires, corporations and big banks— that haven’t just survived through the last five years of crisis, but thrived and profited from it— gave us our money back.

Tens of billions can be raised

from just a small number of taxes on wealth that affect just a tiny proportion of those most able to pay. We will keep up the pressure in our campaigning for progressive tax reforms in the weeks and months ahead. We’re confident that with your support, we can win big changes.

Profiteers must pay!

Vested interests, from big banks to billionaire-funded think tanks, have been quick to scaremonger about raising taxes. We know that their lobbying and influence pushes politicians to make the poorest pay, rather than the super rich and big business.

We see this clearly in the Government’s current idea to balance the books by cutting disability social security, despite growing pressure to stop the plan.

But thanks to the generous donations that hundreds of you made to our fundraiser this year, we’ve been able to train three new spokespeople. This has enabled us to challenge these regressive voices, counter the pressure from vested interests and set the record straight.

Just this week, our Interim Executive Director Aleema shutdown bogus claims about the impossibility of wealth taxes on BBC 5Live, and our Head of Advocacy Caitlin was on GB News making the case for common sense tax reform.

We also had our comments featured in close to 200 media outlets covering the spending review, putting forward the argument for taxing wealth— all thanks to your support.

We can win again

We already know we can win taxes on the big profiteers. When major oil and gas companies like Shell were making record-breaking profits from the energy price crisis, we came together and forced the government to introduce a windfall tax on oil and gas giants. It has since raised £6.2 billion that can be used to support the most vulnerable.

Increasing the bank surcharge from 3% to 35%, in line with the 35% Energy Profits Levy, could bring in close to another £15 billion— money much needed for our social security system, our schools, and hospitals.

Momentum is building, even former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called for the Government to properly tax the banks. But we need greater public pressure to make it happen.