Tax Justice UK
  • Home
  • Projects
    • Taxing Wealth
    • Tax and public opinion
    • Tax and the climate crisis
    • Ending tax dodging
  • About
    • Our approach
    • People
    • Funders
    • Sign up
    • Jobs
  • Blog
  • Donate

Tax justice is on the political agenda

30/9/2021

 
Picture
When we set up Tax Justice UK back in 2017 we wanted to make progressive taxation an issue that politicians were confident to talk about.

For too long wealth taxation in particular had been a no-go area for MPs. They were often fearful of media and political backlash if they suggested taxing wealth in a smarter way. 

The Labour Party conference shows how far we’ve come. 

In advance of her speech, the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves said: “I do think that people who get their income through wealth should have to pay more”. This is something we've been calling for alongside our allies. 

Reeves set out how unfair the tax system is and laid down principles for how a Labour government would deal with tax reform. She announced that Labour would scrap business rates and replace them with something “fairer”.  

She also warned Amazon’s billionaire boss Jeff Bezos: “If you can afford to fly to the moon you can pay your taxes here on earth!” She committed to ensuring the digital giants pay a fair amount of tax in the UK. 

It’s now clear what the shadow treasury electoral strategy is - they want to build a broad coalition with proposals that both keep the Labour membership happy, but also capture business support. 

But for them to succeed there is more work to be done. The shadow chancellor did not commit to taxing income from wealth the same as income from work. And while the opposition’s course on tax issues appears to be heading in the right direction, we still haven’t heard enough detail on their plans. 

Finally, I am concerned that Labour is still talking about the need to “balance the books” as a household would have to. Government finances are not the same as a household, as our colleagues at NEF have pointed out. Borrowing is still very cheap. The consensus amongst economists is that the government should be spending now to support the recovery, rather than worrying too much about the deficit. 

We’ll keep pushing politicians of all stripes to commit to taxing big companies and the wealthiest. This will help support the public services we all rely on as we recover from the pandemic, and meet the challenges of climate crisis, rampant inequality and demographic change.

​

Comments are closed.

    Posts

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    June 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Tax Justice UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee in England & Wales (no. 10761736)
Registered Address: C/O Godfrey Wilson, ​Mariner House, 62 Prince St, Bristol BS1 4QD

Tax Justice UK is a partner of (but independent from) the Tax Justice Network

Privacy policy
Terms and conditions for using this website
Equality and Diversity Statement

If you have concerns about Tax Justice UK, you can make a complaint using this email address complaints@taxjustice.uk.

This website is published under the Creative Commons Attribution Licence
​Tax Justice UK campaigns for a better tax system to benefit everyone in the UK.
Media enquiries:  +44 (0)7413 729 505 (24hrs) 
Phone: +44 (0)20 3637 9137
​Email: mail AT taxjustice.uk
Picture
  • Home
  • Projects
    • Taxing Wealth
    • Tax and public opinion
    • Tax and the climate crisis
    • Ending tax dodging
  • About
    • Our approach
    • People
    • Funders
    • Sign up
    • Jobs
  • Blog
  • Donate