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Millionaires petition Rishi Sunak to tax the rich

Published 12:30 25 Oct 2021 BST

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Open letter signed by 30 millionaires tells Chancellor 'we can afford to contribute more'

30 millionaires have signed an open letter to Chancellor Rishi Sunak asking him to tax the rich. The group, who define themselves as “UK wealth holders”, have called on the Chancellor to tax them because they can afford it. They said: “The cost of recovery cannot fall on the young or those with lower incomes”, urging the Treasury to adopt a more “progressive system of taxation”. In the letter, the millionaires explained: “we understand the immense pressure on the Treasury to deal with crises both present and future - from inequality, to covid, to climate change. “We know where you can find that money - tax wealth holders like us. We can afford to contribute more, and we want to invest in repairing and improving our shared services. “We are proud to pay our taxes to reduce inequality, support stronger social care and the NHS, and to ensure that we’re building a more just and green society”. The signatories, composed of millionaires from a range of backgrounds and businesses, said “when deciding on how to meet the financial gap, look to us. Repairing our country is more valuable than growing our wealth.” Before the pandemic, research from the University of Greenwich found the top had more wealth than the bottom 69 per cent of the UK population. The research paper found a tax on the top 1 per cent of wealthiest households in the UK could raise £70bn to £130bn a year. Recent announcements like the hike in National Insurance payments and the Universal Credit uplift cut mean those at the bottom of society are being forced to compensate for the country’s cost of recovery. Under the Treasury's recent announcements, graduates will soon be paying 50 per cent marginal tax rates. The Chancellor is facing a tricky budget. While the country demands new infrastructure and post-pandemic support, backbench Tory MPs aren’t happy with what they see as an increasingly high-tax, high-spend government. Sunak is under pressure to prove he is a fiscal Thatcherite and not the benevolent, tax-hiking Chancellor he’s been seen as recently. The budget is not expected to contain tax cuts. In the build-up to Wednesday’s budget, the Treasury revealed a £26bn spending package aimed at rebuilding Britain post-pandemic. Among others, it promised billion-pound investments to upgrade local transport and ring fenced £6bn to clear the NHS backlog. Hours after the announcement, the Chancellor was forced to concede only 20 per cent of his big-spend promises were made up of new money, with most announcements having already been pledged in years past. Labour accused the Treasury of chairing a “smoke and mirrors” budget, after Sunak accepted that most of his promises had already been announced. The full budget will be announced on Wednesday October 27. Related links:

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