Coronavirus Means Rishi Sunak Has No Choice But To Tax The Rich
“We need to limit the arbitrary tax advantages of the richest individuals in our society,” is a soundbite that could be straight from the Labour Party playbook.
However, it’s actually from the manifesto that propelled Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson to an 80-seat majority in last year’s general election.
That phrase looms large today as Sunak confronts a pandemic that is hitting the disadvantaged hardest, while its economic fallout is decimating the dreams of another generation of young people.
It’s important to keep this all in mind when reflecting on the Labour Party’s seemingly mixed messaging about a net wealth tax in the last few days. Because the truth is all politicians are being forced to take the UK’s entrenched inequalities seriously.
And given the way Covid-19 has revealed the fragility of our public services and its disproportionate impact on disadvantaged people, it is surely proper that both political parties grasp this nettle.
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Today’s mini-budget will focus on dolling out more cash to combat the effects of shutting down our economy. In the short term, a combination of cheap debt and money creation will get us through this immediate crisis. Over the longer term, Boris Johnson has promised repeatedly that there will be no return to the failed austerity of the past that left the country badly unprepared when the coronavirus crisis hit.
Johnson would be wise to make good on his promise. On the eve of lockdown polling by my organisation, Tax Justice UK, revealed a country fed up with cuts, tax avoidance and the type of clever accounting loopholes open to big...
