tax wealth now: why we are calling for a wealth tax

Back in 2021, we launched our Labour Be Bold campaign, calling for the Labour Party, then in opposition, to commit to policies that would unlock a Green New Deal in their election manifesto. One of these was wealth taxes. People often asked us 'why are climate campaigners calling for wealth taxes'?

In response, we argued that in order to raise the funds we desperately need to enact a Green New Deal, Labour must unlock the considerable wealth that is so unequally distributed in our society.  Whilst politicians tell us there is no money in this, the world’s sixth richest country  - we know better. Through a series of popular, common sense tax reforms - many already adopted by other countries - we showed that they could raise up to £50 billion by taxing the super-rich.

At the time, many MPs couldn’t understand why a youth climate group would take them to task so heavily on tax policy. But young people understand the deep unfairness of our tax system. And we knew we could be organised around these demands for tax justice, just like UK Uncut mobilised people in their thousands in the early 2010s. 

It was a lonely fight back then. But with Elon Musk-shaped oligarchy tightening its grip in the US, a cost of living crisis raging across the UK and our government ushering in austerity 2.0, the last 12 months have seen more and more people joining our calls to do something about wealth inequality. 

Before the election, our Labour Be Bold campaign mobilised hundreds of young people to run sit-outs outside MP offices, disrupt Labour Conference and challenge key MPs - including Rachel Reeves - to back a tax on extreme wealth.  During the election, we took this fight right to the top - disrupting the Labour manifesto launch and challenging Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer on the campaign trail.

And in the government’s first few months, we kept up the pressure, confronting Reeves again at Labour Confrence, bringing together dozens of civil society representatives to call for wealth tax and organising a coalition of 30 cross-party MPs and peers to publicly demand she backed a wealth tax in the Autumn Budget. On the day itself, we showed up in force outside Downing Street with dozens of young people. Inside Parliament, we have worked closely with our MP champions, who have consistently spoken out in favour of a wealth tax in the Commons and in the media. 

Ultimately, Rachel Reeves was forced to raise some taxes on the very wealthiest like those on income from investments (Capital Gains Tax), to fund increased investment in our public services, particularly the NHS. Although the fight for a full wealth tax continues, these concessions tell us that pressure and consistent, smart movement campaigning can force this government to act in the interests of everyday people, despite massive opposition from big business and the super-wealthy.

Cut to the present: UK billionaire wealth grew by £35 million a day last year and billionaires from Lord Alli to Elon Musk are exerting an unprecedented influence on our politics. Meanwhile,  the cost of living crisis is driving a historic decline in our living standards,  our planet burns and politicians tell us there is no money to do anything about it.

The Government have ignored us and so many others who told them it didn’t have to be this way - even when we ask them directly why they are slashing disability benefits for the most vulnerable young people instead of taxing the super-rich. And so we arrived last week at yet another Spring Statement awash with noise about ‘tough choices’ - whilst to most of us it feels like we are stuck in the same doom loop that we have been for decades. 

But the calls for a wealth tax, from MPs, the public, civil society, the climate movement and beyond, have never been louder or more organised. Two thirds of the public back higher taxes on the wealthiest over spending cuts. 

As this government’s approach falls flat with voters (and Reform UK gains ground by exploiting public anger at falling living standards) we have a huge opportunity to force this government to change its approach: to tax extreme wealth and make genuinely transformative investment in revitalising communities, bringing down costs and putting out the flames engulfing our future. 

We will keep fighting to bring that day closer.