'Reeves Is Finally Moving In The Right Direction On Tax – But She Must Go Even Further'

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is facing more calls to unveil a wealth tax.Today, figures showed that inflation has increased by 3.8% – the highest figure in a year and a half.This is more than economists were predicting – but it won’t be news to the people across the country who have seen the price of food keep climbing, their household bills go up and up, and other essentials becoming increasingly unaffordable.The cost of food has risen by nearly 40% since 2021 – a staggering rise with which wages have failed to keep up.The economy clearly isn’t working. Everyone can see it: our high streets are full of shuttered shops, everything is expensive, and nothing works.Neither is the plan that Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer have stuck doggedly to since being elected, to “go for growth” at all costs and hope that that will do the trick.While costs for ordinary people have skyrocketed, growth has remained sluggish – leaving the government struggling to pull in the revenue it needs to fund our public services.Meanwhile, Reeves is still back at the drawing board after being forced to re-think her doomed plan to put responsibility for fixing the economy on the backs of the poorest.After having to mostly reverse the misguided cuts to winter fuel payments and back down over the cruel and counterproductive plans to cut benefits for disabled people, Reeves has been left scrambling to produce a new economic programme.It’s a positive sign, then, that after months of ruling out the most obvious solution to the government’s fiscal dilemmas, Reeves seems to be unplugging her ears to the need to tax wealth fairly.Reports come today that the chancellor is considering a range of options to boost revenue, including plans for a tax on expensive homes by removing the capital gains tax exemption on primary residences above £1.5 million, a change which could raise up to £40 billion.Changes like this are simply common sense: if you are looking to raise money, you should go where the money is.A recent analysis found that the UK’s 50 richest families now hold more wealth than 50% of the population combined.While the rising cost of living has left more and more households squeezed to the brink, with little left to give, those at the top have been multiplying their wealth.Reeves shouldn’t be shy about taking this approach. Taxing wealth fairly isn’t just an economic imperative but a political and moral one. The prize for being bold is significant: from measures like a 2% Wealth Tax on those with over £10 million, to equalising Capital Gains Tax with Income Tax, taking wealth fairly across the board could raise upwards of £50 billion a year for the Treasury.This is the kind of money we need to rebuild our public services, invest in skills and training, and protect communities from the growing impacts of the climate crisis.Squeezing budgets while cutting regulation which protects our communities and our environment is a recipe for exploitation, degradation and decline.It’s a recipe, too, for increasing anger among ordinary people who watch as sewage is poured into our local rivers while water bills rise and shareholders pocket millions; watch their landlords hike rents and house-builders pocket record profits while homelessness rises and the quality of homes declines; and watch supermarkets rake in profits while food bank use spikes.We’re seeing the effects of that anger channelled into a terrifying rise in unrest outside asylum hotels, as far-right grifters like Nigel Farage leverage people’s instinct – absolutely correct – that the British public is somehow being scammed, lied to, taken advantage of.While people work harder and harder and yet keep feeling that their lives are getting harder, they will always be ripe for co-option into anti-immigrant movements.Taxing wealth fairly, then, isn’t just an economic imperative but a political and moral one, too.We need to fundamentally rebalance our economy so that it rewards work, not the hoarding of wealth.Only by doing that can Reeves and Starmer root out the deeply-felt injustice at the heart of our society, and find the money they need to genuinely put this country on the path to prosperity.Related...Inflation Just Rose Again. Here's What It Means For You – And Why You Have To Watch Your FinancesBlow For Rachel Reeves As UK Economy Shrank By 0.3% After Trump TariffsRachel Reeves Gets Brutal Reality Check Just Hours After Claiming Labour Is Making 'Progress' On The Economy

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