London, 1 November 2024: Taxpayers Against Poverty (TAP) welcomes the recent budget from the UK’s new Chancellor, particularly applauding the rise in the Living Wage, which aims to support low-income earners as they navigate the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. TAP has a longstanding commitment to ensuring fair wages, as championed by our founder, Rev. Paul Nicolson, who conducted the original research on minimum income standards in the late 1990s. His work was pivotal in the development of what we now know as the Real Living Wage, designed to reflect the actual costs of living with dignity in the UK.
While TAP acknowledges the positive steps taken to uplift wages, we are concerned by the minimal measures aimed at addressing wealth inequality. Though the budget introduced some tax increases on wealth, they fall short of the substantial reforms needed to reduce economic disparity and fund essential public services adequately.
Examples of where the budget missed opportunities include:
1. Capital Gains Tax Alignment: The budget could have aligned capital gains tax rates with income tax rates, ensuring that those earning through investments pay tax rates comparable to those on earned income.
2. Inheritance Tax Reform: Limited adjustments were made to inheritance tax, yet a comprehensive review could have better addressed the vast transfers of wealth across generations, providing fair contributions from those with significant estates.
3. Wealth Tax Implementation: Although discussions on wealth taxation have increased, the budget introduced no new tax on net wealth, which could have balanced the financial responsibilities of the ultra-wealthy with those of everyday taxpayers.
Rev. Nicolson’s legacy continues to guide TAP’s advocacy for fair taxation and economic justice. While the budget is a step in the right direction for working families, we call on the government to intensify efforts to ensure that the wealthiest contribute equitably to society’s collective needs.
Tom Burgess, Chair of TAP said
“While we appreciate the government’s good intention not to inflict further taxation on “working people”, this budget does little to raise the incomes of those in poverty. At the same time, it could do more to create better public services by taxing those that have accumulated the wealth which we all helped to create, but our system means it is accumulated by a few. We need to change the narrative that is taxation on wealth is morally right and causes no hardship and taxing those whose income is not enough to live on only makes life worse”
We are pleased that there is an increase in putting the case for wealth taxation from such groups as the Fairness Foundation, Patriotic Millionaires UK and Tax Justice UK,
For more information or to support TAP’s campaign for inclusive economic growth, visit www.taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk or contact us at contact@taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk
Media Contact: Tom Burgess, Chair, Taxpayers Against Poverty
Taxpayers Against Poverty (TAP) is an independent advocacy group dedicated to tackling poverty, inequality, and social injustice in the UK through evidence-based policy recommendations, public campaigns, and community engagement.